


Chasing Juliet

by PersephonesGarden



Category: Skam - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-10-21 07:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10680990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersephonesGarden/pseuds/PersephonesGarden
Summary: "Listen up, Idiot. Do you even know what happens in Romeo and Juliet? It's literally a 3-day relationship between a 13- and a 17-year-old that caused 6 deaths. So how about no, Romeo. I'd rather be Rosalind.""Who the fuck is Rosalind?"---New girl in town meets the ultimate Fuckboy.Eva's cousin Lily didn't expect a lot  when she came back to Oslo after being raised in London. She didn't expect the partying, the drama or making friendships for life. But what she expected the least was meeting someone like Chris.





	1. En, Or Where First Impressions Matter

# En

 

> Like time stops, as long as I look into your eyes,  
>  I hope it feels the same for you, no hidden lies.
> 
> No more running, no more burning bridges again,  
>  This time it’s not an act, let’s just dance in the rain. 
> 
> Keep making me feel like we will last forever,  
>  Cause I know it’s real as long as we’re together.

 

**Friday, 16:24**

It’s been a while since I had last been in Oslo, about a year in fact. And even then it had only been a visit over the summer holidays to see my cousin Eva and my aunt. At that time, I never would have guessed that I’d come back to Norway permanently. 

I had arrived at the airport after an uneventful two-hour flight, nervousness probably written all over my face. I had flown alone, as my dad still had business to settle back home in London. 

Eva had kindly offered to get me, her favourite and only cousin, after school. I would also live with her until the next holidays when I was planning to move into a new flat with Dad. 

My thoughts left me occupied while I was walking to the exit after I just got my shiny and new Norwegian passport checked. Excitement had overtaken my sadness about leaving England as soon as the plane had landed. Norway was beautiful, and the promise of living alone with Eva definitely cheered me up. 

I had barely entered the welcome hall and I could already see a head with vibrant strawberry blonde hair- just like my own- jumping on me, which made me almost lose my balance.

“Lily!”, Eva happily screamed into my ear while hugging me intensely. “I’m so glad you’re here, I’ve missed you.”

“Oh Eva, favourite cousin on earth”, I whispered in my still a bit rusty Norwegian with a huge smile on my lips. If there was one good thing about moving her it was definitely her. 

So we stood there in the airport hall for a while, both similarly grinning, my huge bags lying forgotten on the floor around us. 

“Alright, England, let’s get you home” Eva announces while she begrudgingly let go of me. My reaction to my old nickname was pretty much just an exaggerated eye roll followed by a smile. Eva Mohn was the only person in the world that was officially allowed to give me shitty nicknames.

Eva quickly took about half my luggage- for which I would definitely be eternally grateful- and signalled me to follow her in direction to the train station. 

“Sorry that Mum isn’t here with the car”, Eva explained while walking, “but she’s gone for business in I-don’t-fucking-know-where. But I think I’ve already told you that on skype yesterday, right?” 

I just nodded along while I was trying to repress my loud breathing that I credited to my heavy luggage. But hey, moving to another country necessarily meant baggage, right? And I would never survive the thought of my shoe collection spending the next three years without me anyway.

“God, I should really join a sports club or something here”, I muttered under my breath, “I mean, fucking hell, I can’t even carry my own shit around without feeling like I’m already halfway through a marathon. How do you do it, Eva Mohn, you don’t look one bit exhausted! You have to show me your ways.”

Eva was in fact not looking half as tired as me, and commented my exclamation with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Well, you know, little cousin, being tall and naturally gifted in luggage holding has its perks sometimes.”

As an answer I just stuck out my tongue. It wasn’t my fault that I wasn’t blessed with our paternal family’s Norwegian tall genes. And as if being two months younger counted as “little”.

We had- finally! - arrived at the station now, and Eva quickly went to get us tickets as the next train was supposed to arrive in three minutes. 

“Hurry, dude”, I stressed as Eva was painfully slow and I was beyond worried to miss the train- the next one was due in 25 minutes.

Eva just playfully rolled her eyes in response. She still managed to get the tickets on time though, so that we were able to catch the train and she wasn’t forced to listen to my inevitable complaining which would have followed. I could definitely guarantee it would have been very painful 25 minutes.

Sighing, I let all my luggage fall on the seats left and right to me after I sat down opposite Eva in the- thanks god- half empty train in direction to central Oslo. According to my cousin (I never remembered such things) it would take us only about twenty minutes to reach her house. I was already super excited to see the place where I spent all my childhood summers in after Eva and her Mum moved here from Bergen. I had been pretty glad about that move actually, spending summer in Oslo was so much more interesting- and warmer! - than in the small city up north.

“How are you doing, anyhow?”, Eva asked in a tone that was a bit more serious than in our short conversation before, “I mean you know, like everything with your Mum and stuff.”

“Yeah it’s going alright I guess…”, I answered in my show stopping everything’s-fine-folks! - voice, “I mean she’s not exactly happy with me moving here, but what can she do anyway? It’s not my fault that she decided to cheat on Dad and thus making him want to move back home again.” 

The whole divorce of my parents thing was still a weak point I had to admit, it had been for the last year actually, but I was happy that I was finally able to leave that behind me now. Eva knew about everything in detail as she was one of my closest confidantes, so there wasn’t really a point in trying to act nonchalant. I still tried though. 

“But well”, I added with a genuine smile, “at least now I’m able to brush up my super rusty Norwegian and hang out with you.”

Eva smiled in response, knowing what a mess my life had been in the last couple years. After all we skyped every week to update each other.

“How’s Jonas?”, I now asked with a sheepish grin on my lips, which caused Eva to blush a little. She was adorable.

We talked a bit about Jonas and Eva’s life in general now, and I genuinely couldn’t wait to meet him and also her friend Isak.

“So”, Eva changed the topic again, “what would you say from a scale 1-10, how tired are you?”

“Hmm…”, I contemplated, “maybe a 5? Pretty good all things considered.” 

A devilish smile made its way onto Eva’s lips, which caused me to raise my brows. 

“Why, Satan?”, I interrogated.

Eva just kept smiling while she answered; “Well, there’s this party tonight, a lot of people from school are gonna be there, and I don’t know, I haven’t been out for a while after this whole… Ingrid mess.”

Her tone made it pretty clear that she really wanted me to go, and as I haven’t really attended a party in a while either I actually liked the idea. I was just about to confirm when the train arrived at our stop, causing us to quickly grab my luggage and leave in a rush.

 

**Friday, 19:57**

It’s been almost two hours since Eva and I arrived at her home where I was settled in the guest room, the same room I had spent all my summers in when I wasn’t pestering Eva in hers. It was painted in light blue- one of my favourite colours- and decorated in black and white. It had really felt like home when I finally sunk into the covers of the iron clad bed. 

“So”, Eva said, leaning on the door, “do you wanna stay in bed all night like the previous two hours or do you wanna go to this party?”

She was already all dressed up in a black skirt, a patterned tank top and a lot of black eyeliner with a bottle of Vodka dangling in her right hand. Eva sure seemed to be ready to leave at this very second.

My answer pretty much just consisted of me throwing a pillow over my head. God I was so tired. 

In contradiction to my less than enthusiastic reaction Eva was still smiling, which definitely managed to make me feel bad. I mean I had already promised I’d come anyway. 

So I did the only right thing and lifted the pillow from my face  
so I could see Eva’s victory twirl which was always a sight to behold. 

“Alright, alright”, I groaned, getting up from the all too fluffy bed. “Hell, I have no idea what to wear”, I complained, already on the way to my luggage at the end of the bed, a couple outfit ideas starting to float through my head. 

After spending a while emptying my entire luggage on the floor- which gave me slight anxiety, but I tried to cheer myself up that I would clean it up first thing in the morning- Eva and I finally decided on a dark blue off shoulder dress, paired with simple black heels. There was no question that I had to compensate my lack of height in comparison to Eva. 

And so, Eva and I both chugged two shots of Vodka each and made our way to this party.

 

**Friday, 22:13**

The dark room was bursting with people, and after Eva and I had danced for like an hour we both decided it was time to head over to the bar. I really didn’t regret coming, so far I’ve had a great time, Eva’s dancing skills had definitely improved from third grade.

We were both excitedly chatting on the way to get drinks, until Eva suddenly stopped talking. The guilt that I had tried to chase away with every skype call since Eva kissed Jonas for the first time was creeping in. Now it was clearly identifiable to find the point Eva’s eyes were fixated on- Ingrid. God, Ingrid.

It was already too late to advice Eva to just turn around and walk away, so I just followed her to try and prevent anything too bad from happening.

Not sure what to do I distanced myself a little from Eva and her former friend to give them some privacy. I was however still close enough to discretely listen to the conversation, just in case I would have to intervene. Ingrid knew me from the summer two years ago when I cut her hair by about 15 centimetres after she destroyed my favourite book, so I didn’t assume she’d be particularly fond of seeing me right now. 

I was just intensely starring at the drink I just ordered when I overheard the word “Slut” from Ingrid’s mouth, immediately putting me on high alert. I quickly decided that it was enough and almost spill my drink while rushing over to them and position myself next to my cousin. 

“Hi, Ingrid”, I say with confidence, a spark of recognition on the other girl’s face, her hand instinctively reaching after her hair. Sadly, it had grown back since then. 

One look towards Eva’s visibly hurt face was enough and without thinking twice I splashed my still almost full glass of vodka Cranberry into Ingrid’s face, a bright smile on my lips.

“Bye, Ingrid”, I say into the girl’s perplexed and increasingly angry face, while prompting her with a fake smile and a wave of my hand to leave. 

Thanks god she did actually leave, as I would’ve no idea what to do if Ingrid would have stayed. Sadly, I didn’t have scissors with me. 

“Nice move, girl”, a blonde with bright red lipstick of about my height said to me, suddenly appearing in front of us. “Girls who call other girls sluts have a 90% chance to get chlamydia”, she said now in Eva’s direction, which earned her a genuine smile from me and a confused “seriously?” from my cousin. 

For some reason it seemed to me as if Eva already vaguely knew this girl from somewhere, she looked like she recognised the girl. Since a lot of people from her- our - school seemed to be here I settled on that explanation.

“No”, the blonde responded, “but it would be cool if it were true.”

I already liked her, and Eva’s mood seemed to lift itself a little as well thankfully. What throwing drinks into stupid people’s faces and meeting nice strangers could do…

“I’m Noora from Eva’s Spanish class”, the girl introduced herself to me now. So I seemed to be right about my guess for once, how exciting!

“Lily, Eva’s cousin extraordinaire and future attendant of Nissen.”, I responded.

“Ahh, I was already assuming something in that direction, the hair tells it all”, Noora smiled, “Alright, so, nice to meet you two, see you guys around!”

And with that Noora’s light blonde bob was already lost in the crowd again, giving me the chance to focus my attention back to Eva who still didn’t look like her usual self. 

I knew how bad she had taken the fallout with Ingrid, another reason I was glad to be in Norway so I was able to take better care of her, just like she had helped me through my parents’ divorce and among other things. 

“Alright, let’s go somewhere quiet, yeah?” I suggested, and Eva  
nodded. 

Looking around in the crowded place I quickly assessed a lack of quiet places other than outside- which would definitely be too cold- and thus decided to guide us to the bathrooms which were easy to find. 

As soon as we entered Eva walked over to one of the mirrors and started to rub of the eyeshadow excess under her lower lash line. I barely had the time to try cheering her up a little when we both got side tracked again, this time by the sound of sobbing that seemed to come from behind one of the bathroom stalls. 

Eva and I just got to exchange a curious look when the door already opened to reveal a small girl with a blonde ponytail. She quickly made her way to the mirror that we hadn’t occupied yet. I wasn’t even sure if she had spotted us. Looking questioningly at Eva, I decided to check on the girl.

“Hey”, I cautiously spoke which caused the girl to turn around, “are you okay, or…?”

“Yeah, yeah”, the girl answered with a smile so fake, even I who had about the empathy of a tablespoon sometimes noticed. I felt bad for her, whatever happened, and I was sure that Eva felt the same. Tonight truly didn’t seem to go very well for most people.

The blonde didn’t seem to be able to hold up her forced smile for more than five seconds, and she began to sob again. As already mentioned I wasn’t very good with feelings or talking about them if it was more than superficial checking, so I was really glad when Eva dug further: “Are you sure?”

The girl nodded, followed by heavy breathing which definitely ensure us in any way.

“Maybe”, Eva offered softly, “Maybe we could get a friend?”

This finally gave us an answer.

“Can you maybe get Chris?”, the blonde asked, her voice breaking.

“Chris?”, I repeated while Eva already seemed to get ready to go look for this Chris. Looking back at the blonde girl I decided she wasn’t in the state to be left alone, but hell, I’d definitely rather look for some unknown person in a club- bad enough already! - than staying here with a crying girl. The only crying people I could handle were Eva and me. 

“Eva”, I muttered in my cousin’s direction while grabbing her shirt to signal her that I would go. Thankfully she was aware of my affinity for tears and seemed to be in a good enough condition (after the Ingrid debacle) to be left alone. Thus I quickly left the bathrooms to go looking for this Chris. 

Lost in the crowd I decided to just ask some girls on the dancefloor after Chris due to my lack of a lead. I had to ask three different groups of girls until I found the answer I was looking for thanks to a girl that was now pointing me into the direction of a tall guy with dark hair. 

Involuntarily, I was wondering who this guy was to the blonde girl from the bathrooms. Maybe he was a friend that would cheer her up? Maybe he was the guy whose fault it was that she was crying in the bathroom in the first place? After a quick inspection I decided that it must be the latter. That guy’s face was way too handsome and his dance moves were way too smooth to mark him as anything other than a heart breaker.

I was only about three metres away from him now, when I suddenly felt myself loosing balance, making me fall straight on my ass. 

“Fuck!”, I cursed the fluid next to me that made my heels slip. My head had almost crashed on the floor, my hand thankfully being able to prevent the worst. For a couple seconds I just closed my eyes due to the pain and embarrassment, until a male voice and a gentle touch on my arm made me aware of my circumstances of laying on a dirty floor in a short dress. Ew. 

“Hey, Redhead!”, the voice said, obviously trying to “wake” me, which caused me to open my eyes again, instinctively flinching due to the bright lights surrounding me. Then I focused on an adorable nose and eyebrows that made me wonder whether they were a gift of nature or demanded hard upkeep. Chris. Or at least I assumed it was him.

Recognising that I didn’t seem hurt all too badly his tense expression shifted to an amused one. 

“Did it hurt?”, the alleged Chris asked in a humorous tone. I was just about to ensure him that I was fine, but for some reason his expression made me hold back. I doubted on his intentions and decided in a spit second that his face didn’t seem to be above shitty pick-up lines. 

“What”, I thus answered with an eye roll while I was getting myself up the ground in an upright, yet still sitting position as I didn’t want to overwork my still aching head, “When I fell from heaven?” I’m pretty sure I wasn’t able to lift my eyebrows any higher.

“No”, he answered, his hand on his chest, acting hurt. 

“What then?”, I asked confused, almost sure I had fucked up again with my interpretation of mannerisms and expressions. Not that I would let him notice that of course. 

The guy- Chris- just started grinning. I was pretty sure about a thousand women had already seen that exact smile before me. At least he was extending his hand to help me up now. Deciding that it probably wouldn’t hurt to take it, I reached for his hand.

“Did it hurt when you fell for me”, he finally answered while pulling me up, leaving me in a position way too close to his chest. His grin got even wider, exposing a set of perfect white teeth and the smell of alcohol mixed with… salt? Or something. His hand had found its way around my waist after he noticed that my legs were still slightly unstable. At least that was the most plausible reason I kept telling myself. 

Gathering more stable movement after a short while I just gave him an exasperated look and took a step back, readying myself to leave when I remembered my mission. 

“Are you Chris?”, he just nodded, his grin getting even wider.

“Why, have you been looking for me?”, he interrogated.

“Yes”, I said in a tone as uninterested as I possibly could. 

“Interesting”, he countered smugly, “Never had a stalker before.” And there he just earned another eye roll from me.  
“No, Idiot”, I said, “I’m just looking for you cause there’s a girl crying in the bathroom asking for you.”

“Hmm, alright, take me, Red”, he answered, following me walking in the direction of the bathrooms.

“And name’s Lily, not Red, Idiot”, I told Chris while turning my head around just to catch him checking me out. What. An. Idiot. He didn’t even have the manners look apologetic. God, I was just really hoping he wasn’t the crying girl’s boyfriend. 

When we arrived at the bathrooms Eva greeted me with a confused look while the blonde girl was arguing with a snapback wearing brunette about… Toilet paper?

Exchanging a glance with Eva I cleared my throat to end this weird situation. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I got Chris for you”, I sad pointing to the idiot next to me. 

The blonde girl didn’t react the way I expected (which was yelling at Chris) and just looked at me in confusion instead.

“Here I am”, Chris exclaimed into the awkward silence. It became even weirder when the blonde pointed to the girl to whom she was talking about earlier. “This is Chris.”, she said, which prompted the girl in the snapback to agree in a bewildered tone: “I am Chris.”

More silence followed, but now I actually understood what was going on, and Eva seemed to as well. 

“You’re also called Chris?”, asked Chris- male Chris- into the round, which was met by sudden excitement from female Chris.

“Oh my god”, she said, “Twin names!”

“Yeah, twin names!”, male Chris repeated excitedly, which caused the two Chrises to casually hug each other. 

And there it was again, awkward silence.

“We were actually in the middle of something”, Blondie said, causing our small round to dissolve. I understandingly nodded in her direction, taking Eva’s hand in mind to lead us both out of this uncomfortable situation.

“Come on”, I said to my cousin, leaving behind a confused Chris.

“What, we’re not going to talk?”, he yelled after me, “You’re such a tease!”, which I simply answered with my middle finger up and a smirk on my lips, before turning around to blend back into the crowd.


	2. To, Or Where Romeo Annoys Juliet

# To

**Monday, 6:30**

Today was the day I had been dreaded since my Dad had announced that he planned to move back to Norway and asked me to come with him: First day of school. There were just way too many things that might go wrong. But to at least start the day in a positive manner I had set my alarm extra early, so I would have enough time to get ready and have a proper breakfast. 

Groggily I shifted my body towards the end of the bed and rose into a seating position, taking things slowly. When I made my way over to the bathroom- my pace not even being able to triumph over the one of a turtle- I was thinking about mine and Eva’s weekend. We had both laid low, catching up on all the things that were shit to talk about on skype. She told me for example about the trip to the cabin with Jonas (and his friends) last weekend, that she had to shift a week ahead due to my arrival. I slowly started to build an opinion on Eva’s boyfriend, and I couldn’t wait to meet him in person to either verify or falsify my findings.

The most eventful thing that had happened this weekend was actually that we both received a friendship request from Noora on Facebook. I was really glad to already know someone at school next to my cousin, and Noora definitely seemed to be close friendship material thus far, also for Eva. 

I started with splashing some water in my pale face and then putting my contacts in, nobody other than my family and close friends have ever seen me with my glasses on. The combination of those two things never failed to wake me up, and suddenly felt some energy flowing back into my body. 

Humming along to the soft music that played on my phone I finished my rigorous skincare routine (which was necessary to prevent my acne- my most terrifying nightmare- from creeping back onto my face) and subsequently my simple make up with my signature cat eyeliner. The last step was to let my long, wavy hair down. Now I was ready to face the day. 

Making my way through my- thanks to spending most of the weekend organising- neat and tidy room I grabbed the clothes I had laid out last night. Choosing an outfit had actually been quite a struggle as I needed Eva’s assistance to make sure I’d fit in. I mean how the hell would I know what Norwegian kids wore to school?

In the end we both decided on black skinny jeans with holes on the knees, a light blue off shoulder sweater and grey sneakers. I accessorised simply with my golden good luck necklace, my essentials in my trusty black backpack. 

Now fully clothed I made my way towards the kitchen. According to the clock on the wall Eva should have already woken up by now, but as the kitchen surfaces were all empty I decided to make breakfast for us two. Inspecting the fridge, I chose to just make some simple cheese and tomato omelettes and berry smoothies. 

Time flied when I was cooking while listening to music while cooking. And so the two finished smoothies were already placed on the kitchen table and I was almost done with the omelettes when Eva walked into the room, still wearing her pyjamas. 

“God”, she whispered in her tired early morning voice, “I truly missed you. Nobody else ever makes me breakfast.” 

A loud yawn later Eva got seated on the table, hungrily sipping her smoothie, while I was inspecting her over the kitchen island. 

Things like this never failed to make me smile, I loved taking care of the people I loved as I never really had an intense family life. Both my parents were working when I was little, so it really felt like a gift to me every summer- and now always- to in a way share this kind of intimacy with my cousin.

“There you go”, I presented Eva the finished golden brown Omelettes, balancing the two plates in direction to the table. Eva hungrily dug in after I set one of them in front of her. 

“Thanks, Lil’”, Eva managed to say in between two bites, “They’re delicious.”

“You better hurry though, I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to leave in like fifteen minutes”, I said with another look on the clock on the wall.

 

**Monday 7:55**

I decided that I liked the exterior of Nissen. The school looked old, just like my old school back in London, even though I haven’t seen all that much of it yet. Eva had brought me straight to the secretary’s office so I could get my schedule. As of currently, and we were waiting on the lady to finish talking to a student so we could get everything I would need for the first date.

On the way to school- in the bus, to be exact- I had meet Jonas and Isak. Both guys seemed very nice and welcoming, especially Isak. I had talked about various things as we were sitting next to each other, opposite Eva and. While Isak was super chill I was actually more interested in observing my cousin. It was kind of hard to judge a relationship via Skype, so I was more than willing to make up for it now. As far as I could say right now, Jonas seemed great, but I couldn’t get myself to stop suspecting something. In the end Eva had gone through enough because of him. 

“Yes?”, a female voice- the secretary- asked in our direction, waking me from my thoughts. Eva reacted quicker than me, gently pushing me towards the nice looking woman behind the desk. 

“Hi! I’m the new student from England, I think you might be expecting me…? Lily Larsen, and umm yeah”, I poorly introduced myself, but thankfully the older lady didn’t seem to mind and kept smiling.

“Ah yes, Miss Larsen, I have all the things you need for your first day here somewhere. Please excuse me for a second”, she said, while taking off towards a shelf, where presumably my schedule seemed to be. Eva gave me an encouraging smile, and there the lady already was again.

“Here’s your schedule and some other formalities, we already mailed everything to your father as well, we understand your current guardian is your aunt?”, she asked, prompting Eva and me to nod. 

“Very well”, she continued, “It also says here I that your father requested for you to take an advanced English class as you’re your native language is English? The headmaster just permitted it last Friday, so you’ll take classes together with the 3rd year students, third period I believe.”

Even though I had no idea about such a thing I nodded along, after all it wasn’t such a bad idea to not hang out with people struggling to differentiate between you’re and your. Thanks, Dad. 

“If you can please fill out some of these formalities for me”, she handed me a couple pages over the desk, “and bring them back to me at the end of the day? Other than that I think that is all for now, do you have any questions?”

I just shook my head with a smile and took the rest of my stuff from the desk, as Eva had already taken my schedule. 

“Thank you very much!”, I said while taking my leave with Eva, out of the building into the yard. 

“I had no idea that you wouldn’t have English with me”, Eva pouted on our way out of the building, “I was already planning to copy all your homework!”

“Don’t worry, dude”, I responded chuckling, “I can still help you out, just like you will have to support me with Norwegian.”

“Oh crap”, Eva muttered, pointing at my schedule “We don’t have first period together, you have Maths”, 

Well shit, now I’d have my first lesson in a room full of people I knew nothing about without support. Amazing.

“I just really hope I won’t have to introduce myself or something”, I sighed.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. It’s almost eight actually, we should hurry. I’ll bring you to your class!”, Eva told me while looking at my schedule to find out where exactly she had to drop me of. 

“Alright, it should be here”, Eva finally said after we had claimed a set of stairs and stood still in front of one of the classrooms. 

I guess it was time to say goodbye now… It was safe to say I was low-key terrified.

Eva thankfully seemed to sense my discomfort and tried to calm my nerves a little; “Don’t worry, Lily, okay? It’ll all go well and everyone will love you.”

“But I hate maths…”, I murmured.

Eva just chuckled in response, our goodbye was cut short by the bell. So she just quickly pressed a kiss onto my cheek, smiled encouragingly and wished me good luck. And then she was already gone. 

“I got this”, I whispered to myself, before taking a deep breath upon entering the classroom, expecting the depths of hell. 

But with a look around my heart immediately stabilised when I spotted a platinum blonde bob in the second row. A literal angel in this situation: Noora, sitting alone.

I quickly made my way to her desk, fearing that someone else would take the free seat next to her, ignoring everyone around me. 

“Hey”, she greeted me with a genuine smile, signalling me to sit down, “How are you doing, Vodka Cranberry girl?”

“Already dreading first lesson- you’ll see why in about 5 minutes- but other than that great! And you?”, I responded with a smile.

“Yeah I’m fine, and I get you, I pretty much suck at maths too”, Noora assured me. 

We didn’t have the chance to talk a bit more, as the lesson had just started, the teacher hadn’t even noticed me. That’s how I liked my Maths teachers, unobservant. 

To my surprise the entire first two maths lessons went smoothly, and the topic wasn’t even as hard as I had expected as I’ve already had it at home. Chatting with Noora during the five-minute break also went well, as we turned out to have a lot of similar interests. It was shitty that we hadn’t been able to analyse the rest of the latest Great Gatsby adaption. So all in all this was going pretty well, I didn’t even notice the bell that announced the end of the double lesson. I was doodling in my notebook instead of making notes as always, which maybe or maybe not explained my usually barely passing Maths grades. 

“You’re good”, Noora remarked with a glance on my sketches,” Still time to go, tough.”

“Thanks! Oh and do you know where this room is?”, I asked while pointing my finger at my new schedule. 

Thankfully Noora was able to give me directions, and she even accepted my invite to spend lunch break with me and Eva (and probably Jonas and Isak) later. With a quick “Good luck”, Noora and I parted ways, her down the hall and me up the stairs. 

The English room was on the third floor, and again I was taken over by nervousness. This time I would be in a class full of people two years older than me ergo it was pretty much guaranteed that I didn’t know anyone and that no one would take an interest in me… Which maybe wasn’t that bad actually?

Without looking at anyone I went straight to the teacher’s desk, introducing myself while the desks behind me slowly filled with students. 

Mr. Jacobsen immediately spoke to me in English, indicating that it was the only language he wanted to hear in his classroom. He seemed to be delighted when he heard my accent which clearly identified English as my first language. He instructed me eagerly what the class had studied so far- all material I’ve already studied- before he sent me to get seated. 

At least the teacher seemed nice so far, what was the worst that could happen anyway?

When I turned around to look for an empty seat I suddenly felt like I was just hit by lightning, because I had spotted him: The worst thing that could happen, sitting in the last row, wearing a black hoodie. 

Chris hadn’t noticed me yet, as he was flirting with a pretty girl that sat in front of him, giving me like 5 seconds to go over my options.

Holy shit though, he was definitely not what I had expected- and hoped- to see in this classroom. But even worse was that there were only two seats left, one in first row almost in front of the teacher, one next to him. If there was something I avoided like the plague was front row seats that were close enough to see a teacher’s nose hair, but then again, Chris.

Taking a deep breath, I made my way through the rows, deciding in a split second that I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of giving up the better seat just because of him. 

As I was walking up to his desk Chris noticed me, his eyes lit up in a teasing way and the same sheepish smirk from Friday appeared on his face. The girl he had previously flirted with was already forgotten. What a player. 

“Hey there, Red”, Chris greeted me while he pushed his hand through his hair, “Wanna sit?”

Pulling myself together as much as I was able to I nodded, muttering a “thanks”. 

To my surprise the guy sitting next to Chris, wearing a similar- the same? - hoodie as Chris looked at him confusedly and said; “But wait a second, Will- “, but Chris just signalled him to shut up. 

I, on the other hand wasn’t willing to get involved into this weird exchange at all, and got a pen and my notebook out of my pocket.

Chris- whose attention had reverted to me- was just about to say something when Mr. Jacobsen welcomed everyone in English, causing me to smile. I genuinely liked Norwegian, but English was my native language. 

“Welcome back, guys”, the teacher said casually, “I see thankfully no one has broken their leg or something! Please also welcome our new student, Lily Larsen! She’s a first year who just moved here from England, so she takes advanced classes.”

I wanted to die in shame when some students muttered a “Hi”. Causing me to wave half-heartedly. But the most annoying thing was definitely Chris who mouthed “Nerd” at me while winking. 

“I know you guys are all gonna love the new topic we’re studying”, Mr Jacobsen continued, “Shakespeare!”

Most students- including Chris next to me- sighed at this but I was secretly super excited. I really enjoyed Shakespeare's plays, other than the merchant of Venice. .

“We’ll begin with- “, Jacobsen began, but was promptly interrupted by the opening door which revealed a pretty attractive guy with dark hair. 

“Sorry”, he just said in a low voice, and then he suddenly glanced at me- or better, my seat- which immediately made me understand why Chris’ friend had reacted so weirdly after he had told me my seat wasn’t taken. Great, third lesson and I had already stolen someone’s chair.

But thankfully the guy seemed to take it casually and took the seat in the front row, taking all the time in the world to get his stuff out of his backpack.

“As I was saying, before William here interrupted me”, Mr Jacobsen said, “we’ll study his name twin, Shakespeare, and we’ll begin with his most famous novel: “Romeo and Juliet! Please get up and get your copy”, he finished, pointing at the books that were stapled on his desk.

I was already about to get up when Chris smoothly told me he’d get two- in English. As much as I didn’t what to admit it, his accent was beyond adorable. 

I hated myself for it, but I couldn’t stop myself for looking at him while he casually strolled towards the front to get the books, stopping on his way back to whisper something to William, the two seemed to be friends. There we go, I was probably right about my accidental seat-stealing tendencies… of course Chris usually sat next to him. In response to whatever Chris had just whispered to him William rolled his eyes, but followed it with a nod and a look in my direction, immediately causing me look down at my notebook. Dammit, now Chris was already gossiping about me with his friends? It wasn’t my fault he told me the seat was free…

“There you go”, Chris startled me, laying down a copy in front of me. He was still talking in English which made me believe I had been right to suspect that it was compulsory to speak it in this class room. 

“Thanks”, I said, opening the first page, a smile creeping its way onto my lips. Old books were the shit, man. 

“You’re welcome, Lily”, Chris answered with his seemingly omnipresent smile on his lips. How the fuck did he get his voice to sound this charming all the time? Wasn’t it exhausting?

As Mr Jacobsen had instructed us I started reading the first act now even though I’ve already read it twice, once in class and once after I’d seen Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and couldn’t get Leo DiCaprio out of my head. I nevertheless decided that it wouldn’t hurt to read it again, as there would be a test on it for sure. As a countermeasure against Chris’ probable interruption- I don’t know, he just seemed the type- I strategically draped my long auburn hair between us, pretty much guarding my face from him. 

This went well for about two scenes until Chris- who hadn’t even bothered to open the book- slid a note over to me, carefully pushing my hair out of the way. I usually hated when people touched it, but as I was in a semi-good mood right due to Shakespeare I allowed him to pass until I read the note. 

What are you doing Friday, Juliet?

His handwriting was surprisingly nice, for a guy at least. I decided that it was wiser to actually give him an answer as I definitely believed Chris to be capable to make a huge scene out of this if I wouldn’t.

Nothing that involves you. Also can you please let me read this book.

Chris however didn’t budge. His face didn’t even seem to be frustrated in any way. 

C’mon, Juliet. My friends are having this party and I’m pretty sure you don’t wanna miss having me as your Romeo for a night, do you?

Deciding that an eye roll would not suffice I let an exasperated sigh free and finally looked directly at Chris, which I had avoided all lesson.

“Listen up, Idiot”, I whispered in a tone as low as possible to not attract attention, pronouncing every syllable of my first words as thou I was speaking with a little child, “Do you even know what happens in Romeo and Juliet? It’s literally a 3-day relationship between a 13- and a 17-year-old that caused 6 deaths. So how about no, Romeo. I’d rather be Rosalind.” 

Chris reaction is cut short as the bell rings, finally releasing me out of this class.

“Who the fuck is Rosalind?”, I heard Chris mutter to himself confusedly as I quickly get up, throw my things in my bag and get ready to leave. 

“Bye, Romeo”, I said, leaving behind a visibly distraught Chris. I was pretty sure English lessons would not end up boring.

 

**Tuesday 11:15**

Eva was currently low-key making out with Jonas in the hallway (again), while I was casually conversing with Isak. I still hadn’t given Jonas my stamp of approval as I- admittedly- hadn’t had the chance to talk more than two sentences in a row with him, as his and Eva’s teenage hormones were always interfering. He did seem nice though…

“Are they always like that? I mean I’m glad she’s getting any in comparison to me”, a low chuckle escaped my mouth, “but like… still, always?”, I asked Isak curiously, not even trying to hide my question, my voice clearly understandable to both Eva and Jonas. If they cared, anyways.

“Well”, Isak began while joining my chuckle, but his explanation was cut short by the appearance of two familiar faces that came down the stairs. The crying girl and female Chris. They didn’t seem like they would ignore us, so I prepared myself for a conversation. 

“Hi”, the blonde greeted me excitedly, “Thanks for last time!”

“Oh, worries”, I insured her.

“Hi!”, Eva now said, suddenly seeming to be able to let Jonas lips alone. 

“I can’t remember if I greeted you properly last time, I was a little out of it. I’m Vilde”, the blonde introduced herself. For some reason I found that her name suited her. 

She now went in to shake Eva’s hand, while Chris went in for a high five that took me by surprise. Only a couple moments we reversed our roles; Vilde shaking my hand while Chris and Eva were high-fiving. 

Isak and Jonas just casually nodded, knowing that they weren’t exactly part of our girl circle, or whatever we were anyway.

“I’m Eva”, my cousin introduced herself, while I just mumbled “Lily”.

“Anyways”, Vilde now said in her high- and for some reason always bubbly sounding? - voice, “It was so nice of you guys to help me on Friday!”

My attention however, was captured by girl Chris who had started to flirt with Isak who didn’t seem to take it that well. He didn’t seem to be the kind of guy that was turned on by a girl playing with a spoon in her mouth. I, on the other hand, found it hilarious. 

In the meanwhile, Eva answered Vile, ensuring her that it had been nothing. 

“We were wondering if you guys are already on a Russ bus?”, Vilde interrogated now. 

“Eh, no”, Eva answered for us, “Lily just moved here, and I…”

“That’s perfect!”, Vilde interrupted her, “Do you guy wanna join ours?”, she invited us with a bright smile on her face. I was actually considering it- I found Chris entertaining- in comparison to some other Chrises I knew- but Eva immediately blocked.

“We haven’t really started thinking about Russ time…”, my cousin mumbled. 

“It’s really important to think about it if you want to be on a bus, you have to plan early!”, Vilde exclaimed. The way she made it out was like we were both pregnant in the 6th month and still hadn’t found out who our baby daddies were.

Eva and I just exchanged amused looks while Vilde was swooning about unity and values until Chris interrupted her. 

“It’s like a sect”, she said casually, “once you’re in you can’t get out, it ends in collective suicide on the night of 17th of may 2018”

Eva just looked at Chris like she was a ghost or something, while I managed to chuckle a little. 

Vilde on the other hand seemed to be terrified of her friend’s words. “She’s just joking”, she said in a puzzled voice, “Do you perhaps wanna join our bus meeting on Friday after school?”

Eva still seemed to be on the fence, so I simply took over and answered: “Yeah, sure”, which prompted Vilde with Chris in tow to leave, Vilde with another exaggerated smile on her lips. 

As soon as we were gone Eva already looked at me reproachfully which prompted me to do the one and only right thing to do in this situation: Pulling Eva up the stairs. I dragged her in direction to the toilet I used this morning aka the only toilet in this building of whose location I was aware of. 

“See you guys at lunch!”, I shouted in the guys’ direction, a confused Eva walking behind me. 

Thankfully the toilet was empty when we entered it. I made sure by checking the stalls.

“Listen, slightly less vibrant Redhead”, I said to Eva after I made her sit down on the heater, “I’ve had pretty much exact 90 hours to observe your daily life so far, and to be honest- as your favourite cousin I can say that- there are things we gotta fix here.” 

“What- “, Eva tried to interrupt, but at this point I didn’t care, I had to get this feeling out right now, otherwise it would just keep bugging me.

“I love you, okay”, I continued, “but you are isolating yourself. Yeah, yeah, I know you have Jonas, and after that whole Ingrid disaster it’s understandable that it has been going like this for a while. But listen Eva, your life can’t just revolve around your boyfriend.”

I paused to give her a chance to yell at me- which I probably would have done if our roles were reversed- but to my surprise she did not. Instead she just kept quiet, looking at the floor. Not really knowing what was the appropriate thing to do I just decided to continue and finish my rant. 

“You have me now, and no matter how hard you could ever try to shake me off, it wouldn’t work. But people other than me are bloody important too, we need friends. Do I like Vilde? No, not really- her voice kind of throws me off- but she’s not going to be the only one on that bus, alright? Maybe we could ask Noora or something? And it’s anyway just one meeting, and I promise that if you still hate the idea of us in a Russ Bus at the end of this meeting, we’ll flake. Alright?”

Eva-my precious little Eva- nodded, and thankfully lifted her gaze from the floor now. She looked a tiny bit broken when I looked at her, I couldn’t help but to hug her. I could tell how hard her forced isolation and that guilt about Jonas and Ingrid were, but I hoped that maybe now she would be able to move on from it. Guilt was no way of living. 

“Baby steps”, I whispered into her ear, stroking over her beautiful hair that was so much softer than mine.

Eva still didn’t say anything, but I knew that she understood what I meant. She hugged me tighter.


	3. Tre, Or Where Sana's the Boss & Chris Enjoys Shakespeare

**Thursday 14:05**

Eva, Noora and I had just finished our second official girls only lunch which had taken a great course. We all fit together phenomenally, all different but able to complement each other in a way. It was certainly safe to say I was very glad about already finding a friend in my first week, and of course it was even better that I could share that friend with Eva. 

Those kind of girl squads had always been my comfort zone; I had been in a similar situation back in London. I still spent a good part of my leisure time texting and skyping with my two close girlfriends, Sasha and Charlotte. For some reason they both had taken great interest in Chris, especially Sasha. 

They hadn’t rested for hours until I finally sent them a picture I had found on his Instagram. It had cost me good five minutes to recover from finding out Chris’ last name (Schistad… Shitstad, it was hilarious and I definitely planned him to insult him with it). Then Sasha had immediately tasked to make out with him while Charlotte started to craft a shipping name. It had taken her a couple minutes to declare that from now on Chris and I would be known as “Lilyris”. In short; They loved him, I hated the name and already regretted telling them about that fuckboy in the first place.

Noora and Eva had continued talking on our way down the hallway while my mind had drifted off, Eva gently pushing my shoulder now to get me back to earth so I could answer Noora’s question. Hell I didn’t even know what we were talking about at this point.

“You guys doing anything Friday?”, Noora repeated her question with a smile.

But once again my answer- which would’ve been a “No, let’s hang out!”- was cut short by the appearance of a Trench coat- and pink headband wearing Vilde behind us. There was truly no hideout from Platinum Blonde #2 (Noora was #1). 

Not that I hated Vilde, she was just a little much sometimes (or the like three times I had met her so far). I was pretty sure she had her redeeming qualities though, she really did seem like a good person somehow. But right now I didn’t have the nerve to talk to her. 

“Hi!”, Vilde greeted us in her ever so excited voice. Judging by her omnipresent bubbly tone it was actually pretty hard to believe we had met her crying in the bathroom.

“Hi!”, Eva said with a smile, “Vilde, this is Noora.”

Vilde immediately went in to shake Noora’s hand and greeted her with another excited “Hi!”. 

Noora however seemed a bit thrown off by Vilde’s enthusiasm. Understandable. 

Focusing her attention back to Eva and me, Vilde interrogated: “Have you guys talked to Chris?”, she said, earning a slightly confused look from me. 

“No”, Eva answered for us, still friendly. I was weirdly proud to see her take initiative. Good to see she had taken my advice to broaden her horizon and find more friends to heart. I was also glad that she currently on the friend making path because it meant I didn’t have to say anything.

“We can’t have the bus meeting at her place”, Vilde continued talking, “her mum is having a wine reception and we can’t have it at mine either. So I was wondering if we could have it at one of your guys’ places?” 

That’s how I remembered that hanging out with Noora hadn’t been an option in the first place. Well… What a shit. 

“Mine?”, Eva asked, sounding unsure, “Eh yes, but how many will come?” 

Vilde seemed satisfied with that answer. “Noora”, she now invited our new friend, “you wanna join too?”

Noora on the other hand seemed rather confused. “What?”

“Bus meeting”, Vilde answered swiftly.

“Bus meeting… what?”, Noora asked again, obviously not content with Vilde’s answer. She didn’t seem to find Vilde all that sympathetic anyway, she made that clear through her body language.

Vilde however didn’t seem to notice and just kept talking in her bubbly voice: “We’ll create the world’s coolest Russ Bus, do you wanna join?”

“No”, Noora answered simply, her expression making clear how disinterested she was in the idea. 

I totally got why, but I was still a little thrown off as it would’ve been cool if she would’ve joined as well. But then again, her, Eva and me could stay friends anyway. 

Besides, I had only planned for me and Eva to join because of our dire friendship situation as I didn’t exactly get the hype of this Russ bus thing anyway. I mean Dad had explained the whole thing to me once, but I never considered it to be of any importance. Thus I was fine with Noora’s decision not to join. 

The disappointment was clearly visible on Vilde’s face, so she just turned herself back to us Redheads to answer Eva’s original question: “Then we’re four.”

Thankfully the upcoming awkwardness was cut short by the arrival of female Chris and a girl in a hijab with quite a lot of kohl around her eyes. I literally only had to look at that girl’s tough expression for two seconds to grasp that she played no games. I quickly decided that liked her which prompted me to smile in her direction. 

“Hi guys, meet Sana!”, Chris introduced the girl in the hijab, “She’ll join the bus meeting.”

I was immediately intrigued, and a look towards Noora and Eva revealed to me that they had similar feelings. 

Vilde however did not seem amused and just looked at Sana like the girl had just eaten two burgers at once without leaving behind any cocktail sauce stain at all, anywhere. A miracle for burger lovers, but a nightmare for gluten free people. And Vilde definitely didn’t eat gluten.

“Where do you know each other from?”, she asked.

“We met at a Ramadan programme at the mosque”, Sana snippily answered in a sarcastic tone. So my presumptions about her were right, that girl took no shit. 

Chris immediately started laughing, causing me to join in due to the general, shocked reaction. Vilde’s face was priceless. 

“She’s joking”, Chris assured everyone after we both stopped laughing, “we have German together.”

“But you want to join our bus meeting?”, Vilde asked, still looking very confused and displeased about this whole situation.

The problem was that she didn’t seem to act so irritating on purpose, but it was still annoying, especially because we all sensed why Vilde acted so weird, including Sana. I just tried to remind myself that not everyone here grew up in multicultural London. Vilde would learn, she’d have to.

“Yes”, Sana answered, sure of herself. 

“Is that okay then…?”, Vilde asked, immediately prompting me to internally roll my eyes. This wouldn’t end well.

“What’s the problem?”, Sana inquired, not trying to hide that she was done with Vilde’s shit.

“No, eh… Since you’re Muslim… Isn’t it true that Muslims aren’t allowed to be a Russ?”, Vilde let her thoughts out. 

My expression immediately changed, even though I was pretty sure Vilde didn’t truly mean it in an Islamophobic way. But if there was one thing I couldn’t deal with it was discrimination, especially towards religion. I still had the occasional nightmare of that one night I exited the synagogue with my mum on Shabbat and some terrifying looking guys had threatened us. I usually had the advantage that people had no idea of my religion, but Sana with her hijab didn’t have that.

I was just about to say something when Sana herself stepped in and sarcastically announced: “No, it’s punished by stoning”.

Chris laughed while I exchanged a look with Eva, both of us impressed by Sana’s quick wittedness. That girl needed no advocate. 

“When is it?”, Sana asked confidently into the silence after Chris’ laughter had died down. 

“Tomorrow”, Chris answered, “who’s hosting?”

“Me”, Eva reported, raising her hand.

“I’ll put your address in the GPS”, Sana simply said, getting ready to leave. 

“Alright, Auf Wiedersehen!”, Chris said her goodbyes, Sana already on her way. 

“It means “See you later””, Chris explained to Vilde who had an accusatory expression on her face.

As soon as Sana had completely disappeared from the picture Vilde exclaimed: “She can’t be on our bus.” 

God, was that girl for real? Because of a bloody hijab? A small part of me nevertheless hoped it was because of Sana’s bossy attitude. With that I could work, but with the other thing? 

“Why not?”, Chris asked, obviously not seeming to grasp the situation. Both Eva and Noora seemed to be just as uncomfortable as me which finally prompted me to step in. 

“I want her in our bus”, I said confidently, completely ignoring the protesting expression in Vilde’s face, “She’s an asset.”

“Yes, we’ll give her a chance”, Noora joined in, earning a smile from me, “she was really cool.” Hell yeah, I knew she was one of the good ones. 

“We?”, Vilde inquired while bewildered looking at Noora, “You’re not even on our bus.”

“If she’s joining so am I”, Noora reinforced her stance.

“Awesome!”, Chris exclaimed as if nothing happened at all and went in to high five a puzzled Noora.

Vilde just looked at Chris like the girl had just cut all of her Barbies’ hair off, leaving the circle. Eva, Noora and I just exchanged looks, aware of how much hard labour we would have to put in to make this Russ Bus group work out.

 

**Thursday 7:57**

This time Chris wasn’t flirting with anyone when I entered English Class for the second time this week. Instead he was eagerly talking to William who sat… Not on my former seat like I had expected? 

Instead he sat on Chris’ other side, the chair formerly occupied by the guy that had interrupted Chris last lesson. 

When I let my gaze sweep over the rows I noticed the other guy right in the front with a frown on his face. He was wearing a black sweater with a white inscription over his chest which just confused me even more. Wasn’t that the same sweater Chris had worn on Monday? Also, who the hell was Chris to be able to command people around like that? Did he literally just do it so he could sit next to me to annoy me? Fucking hell. Chris definitely had some nerves. 

Deciding to ignore all the weird ass thoughts in my head that I had probably just made up I made my way down the rows, smiling at some girls. For some reason they only returned my gesture- and my pretty weak attempt to try make them like me included- with frowns. What the flying fuck was going on today… 

“Hey, Juliet”, Chris greeted me, looking up from his conversation with William, “how you doing?”.

His smile would totally get me if I wouldn’t know that it was all just to get into my pants. It was such a pity that such a fuckboy had been blessed with a face like this. How did he even manage to always be in such a cheerful mood anyways?

“Hi”, I mumbled, still extremely tired from a long ass Skype conversation with my Sasha last night. In short, I was not in the mood to remind him that I had an actual name.

“Fine, thanks”, I answered Chris’ question, “you… guys?”, I said, trying to include William. His presence was undeniable, even though he didn’t seem to be the kind of guy who minded silence all that much which I totally understood. I too wasn’t really in the mood to make small talk at this hour but it wasn’t like Chris would let me just doze off. Not his style, I guess. 

“That’s William by the way”, Chris introduced his friend, after the latter had answered my question with a solid “Fine too, thanks”.

“Lily”, I introduced myself with a tired smile towards William who responded with an understated smile and a “Hi”. His voice was low, and in contrast to Chris he definitely didn’t seem to be a guy of many words. What an interesting pair they made. 

Our conversation didn’t develop further as Mr Jacobsen began the lesson. I tried to concentrate while I got my books out, but for some reason Chris seemed to think that it was the perfect moment to make some smartass comments under his breath. The problem was just that he was actually really funny: I had real difficulty to keep my laughter down. 

The good news was that Mr Jacobsen decided to give us some time to discuss the first act which we had to read for today. This meant that nobody could hear me laughing in the backrow as everyone started talking instantly anyway. The bad news was that he decided to let us do the task in pairs. 

Chris on the other hand would probably not consider that as bad news, his complacent smirk immediately appearing as soon as he heard “pairs of two”. 

“Did you even read it?”, I asked him, already pretty sure of the answer I’d get. Chris definitely didn’t seem like the type to enjoy Shakespeare. 

“Hey”, Chris exclaimed indignantly, “I totally did.” 

“Really?”, I questioned, but Chris insisted.

“Yeah! I found out who Rosalind is, and I can totally get why you identify with her, she sounds like a real smoke show”, he elaborated with a wink. 

“I didn’t get most of the rest though”, he continued, this time in a more serious, almost innocent tone, “the language is just so weird and confusing.”

I couldn’t lie, Chris was like really hot (even though I would absolutely never hook up with him, he could lick his lips as many times as he wanted), but maybe I liked this cute version better. Even though I was pretty sure that he just tried this persona of himself out to see how to best hook me onto him. But damn, it kinda worked. 

“What exactly didn’t you get?”, I asked him in an attempt to be nice. Maybe Shakespeare would be more appealing to him if he’d actually understand it? 

Chris just furrowed his brows while pushing his hair back. 

“Honestly”, he admitted, “I only understood the Rosalind part because I googled it. I just really hate this play.”

I almost started to feel pity for him (and feel kind of flattered that he took some time to understand what exactly I had blurted out to him last Tuesday), until he continued in his usual manner: “But if you’d read it to me it would be fine, your accent is hot.” And there, another wink. On everyone else it would look ridiculous but for some reason Chris could pull it off. 

However, my reaction to his words was still only an exaggerated eye roll and a low sigh, until I decided to get him back to serious again. And me as well why I was at it. I didn’t have the time to be distracted by that guy’s face.

“Listen, Chris”, I said which caused him to lean into my direction and rest his chin on his palm- literally the human gesture version of a “hmm?”- “What’s your average in English?”

This seemed to be a question he hadn’t expected from me, his slightly confused countenance made that clear. 

“Umm”, Chris mumbled, “not so good?”

“And this is your final year?”, I asked rhetorically while Chris nevertheless nodded. 

“You literally have this rare opportunity of sitting right next to an actual British person who is willing to help you because she’s a really nice person. So instead of annoying the fuck out of me just try to listen and we’ll get your grades up, alright?”

To my surprise Chris actually stayed serious and nodded. His chin still rested on his palm and his hair had fallen back onto his face. 

“Now in all seriousness, did you actually read- not skim through- the first act like we were supposed to do?”, I asked him with less of a patronising tone than before, my natural voice toning in.

Chris shook his head.

“Okay, so “, I started while playing with my pen, “let’s start with- “, and then, boom, my pen fell out of my hand, rolled along the desk and dropped before I could stop it.

“Fuck me…”, I cursed under my breath, exasperated. As soon as I said it I already regretted it. 

Chris instantly saw the opportunity and started smirking like there was no tomorrow, preparing himself to let out a smart ass comment. 

“That was not an invitation”, I deadpanned, earning a fit of laughter from Chris while he leaned down to get my pen from the ground. I was just about to thank him after he handed me back the pen when his genuine laugh died down and he asked, “You sure?”, with a lick on his lips. Hell, this guy would never learn. 

The mature person I was just decided to ignore his behaviour and go back to business. To be honest, I really couldn’t be mad at him, the opportunity had been just too good.

“Alright, back to Shakespeare”, I said, signalling Chris to finally open his copy of Romeo and Juliet. To my surprise he complied with no complaints and started to read about the Dramatis Personae at the beginning. It didn’t take long until he started furrowing his brows.

“Just ask if you don’t get something”, I offered. 

I started to fiddle with the star dangling on my neck while observing Chris reading, his expression changed with every line. He paused from time to time to question me about either vocabulary or interpretation. It took another little while until his concentrated expression changed to an amused one, and he looked up to me. Thank god my face hadn’t been fixated on him at that moment.

“Shit, I get this Sampson guy, I am too a pretty piece of flesh”, Chris laughed, referring to a passage in the first scene, “and they shall also feel how long I’m able to stand!” 

For some reason I found this hilarious and I couldn’t stop myself from falling in with Chris’ laughter. He would probably die when he came to the thumb biting part...

“Get out”, I said under my soft laughter, while burying my head in my palms. It was so stupid. But well, Chris Schistad might be a pain in the arse, but at least he was funny. 

**Friday 18:50**

The girls were all gathered in Eva’s living room, me squished in between my cousin and Noora. I had started to become oddly excited about our guests a couple hours prior, I always loved having friends over. The Dinner Parties I hosted all couple months were famous amongst my old friend group.

Even though this was of course only a casual gathering I had made the effort to bake some Challah to Eva’s amusement. Together with the bread I had also prepared some other fresh snacks for everyone. I was in full host mode and felt very sociable.

To my surprise and pleasure Vilde complimented the different veggie sticks, cheese and the Challah with some adorable looking cupcakes. I always really appreciated it when people contributed a little. Thus the blonde earned some much needed plus points.

I had also been very excited to see Sana’s reaction when I offered her some Challah. A spark of recognition in her eyes immediately revealed that she had gotten the point, the shimmer of my soft golden Star of David necklace confirming her estimation. She seemed to be pleasantly surprised to not be the only non-Christian in the room.

I was currently munching on my first- absolutely delicious- cupcake while Noora next to me was nibbling on a carrot stick, both of us very uninterested in Vilde’s talk about toilet paper sales. 

Thankfully Eva had enriched my knowledge about Russ time traditions beforehand, so I understood what was going on, but paying attention was definitely something different. I just didn’t get why this should be important now. 

“So”, Vilde said while handing out the papers that had brought my mental presence back to the meeting, “I’ll need an individual plan from all of you on how you’ll earn that money.” Money? Who said anything about earning money? Wasn’t it still almost three years until we would have Russ time? Shit I shouldn’t have zoned out. Thanks god I could ask Eva later who seemed to have listened. 

Sana just sighed disapprovingly after receiving her paper.

“Is there something?”, Vilde interrogated, irritated. 

“We’re wasting time on toilet paper”, Sana stated matter of factly, “It’s not enough.” Ohh, now it started to become interesting!

Vilde clearly disagreed and insisted of the toilet paper’s importance.  
“Listen, we’re losers at school”, Sana cut directly to the chase, ignoring Vilde, “If we don’t want to end up in a loser car, we need a strategy.”

Everyone just shared surprised looks, but no one dared to disagree as Sana’s observation wasn’t far off. Sadly. 

“We aren’t losers at school!”, Vilde insisted. Well, no one other than her disagreed. 

“Wasn’t it you who was thrown out of another bus?”, Sana asked, her face making clear that she wouldn’t back out of this. And well, she really got a point. I had only been here for a week, and even I had gotten that none of the girls in this room could be considered popular. Me included. 

“Not really thrown out…”, Vilde said. That girl was clearly still in denial.

“Yes, you were.”, Chris blurted out, stabbing her friend in the back. But who could blame her, really? Vilde needed a reality-check. 

The blonde’s expression got low-key furious at this betrayal. 

“Listen, Vilde”, Sana continued as if she were explaining to a little girl that she couldn’t get more ice cream, “It’ll be hard if you deny everything. Acknowledge that we’re losers.”

I exchanged a look with Noora, who seemed mildly surprised, but definitely didn’t try to make an attempt to disagree. She wasn’t in denial. Eva’s reaction was similar. 

“Do you think so yourself?”, Vilde insisted, her voice becoming quieter by the minute.

“Hello?”, Sana said in her bitter voice, “I’m a Muslim girl in a faithless country, I’m the biggest loser of them all.”

The undeniable truth came out of the mouth of this girl, and I couldn’t stop agreeing with her, just like everyone else in the room. Sana was undoubtedly wise beyond her years. 

“You talk really maturely”, Chris stated, speaking for presumably most of us. For me at least. 

“Thanks”, Sana said, accepting the compliment. 

“But what do you want us to do?”, Vilde asked, now a bit more eager to hear Sana’s words. 

Sana seemed to expect just that and started to fill us in in her elaborate plan.  
“First we need more girls, cool girls.”, Sana said, “How do we do that?”

“Ask them?”, Vilde almost answered questioningly, earning another internal eye roll from me. God I had to stop.

“Wrong”, Sana said, “We ask nothing, the cool girls ask us. But first, we need something we don’t have. A four letter word.”

I had no idea, exchanging unknowing looks with Eva and Noora. Chris on the other hand just took a wild guess. 

“Verve”, she stated confidently. 

“Cred”, Sana answered. 

“Verve has five letters, Chris”, Vilde corrected her friend while Sana was already moving on. Amused by all this I took another big bite out of my tasty cupcake.

“Do we know any ’97 guys?”, Sana asked now, looking questioningly at our small circle. 

I almost chocked on my cupcake when I was thinking of Chris. Male, annoying, English-Class-Chris. 

Everyone just shook their head while Eva patted my back, helping my congestion to get back on track. I was just about to decide whether I should say something or not, but Sana already continued.

“Okay”, she continued dispersedly, “then we need to find out who from the ’97 people have the best bus and then get ourselves to get invited to their parties. Any idea how we’ll do that?”

Blank faces. Noora exhaled loudly, as if to say “No fucking clue”. 

“You guys hook up with them”, Sana stated. This time there was more of a reaction. 

Eva and I responded the quickest, both of us blurting out: “Seriously?”

Eva sounded unbelieving, and I terrified. Thanks god I didn’t spill the beans about Chris. 

“You guys? “, Vilde followed up, not liking Sana’s choice of words.

“I'm not hooking up!”, Sana said as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. Which it kind of was, I decided with a look on her hijab. 

General indignation to Sana’s statement from Eva, Noora and me was still going around, but Vilde on the other hand seemed to be ready to listen. 

“Okay”, she asked, “so we'll hook up. What will you contribute?”

“Are you kidding me?”, now it was Sana’s turn to be indignant, “I'm rescuing you here with a strategic plan and you're wondering what I'll contribute?”

Silence. 

“Does anyone have a boyfriend?”, Sana continued.

“I do”, Eva reported, raising her hand, an uncertain look on her face. 

“How old is he?”, Sana questioned further, causing me to let out a sharp sound between my teeth. 

“He's from '99.”, Eva answered hesitantly, sensing that Sana’s reaction wouldn’t be all that accommodating. 

“Dump him”, Sana said.

Eva just raised her brows, clearly disbelieving and not ready for it. My poor little Evakins. 

I was just about to say something in her defence when Noora took over. “You're not serious?”

“She's one of the prettiest here”, Sana answered, “It's wasted if she has a boyfriend.” That girl truly was all about business. I did agree that Eva was incredibly pretty though. 

“Honestly”, Noora insisted, “This is really stupid.”

“What is?”, Sana asked, calm and confident. 

“You can't ask us to use our sexuality in exchange for credibility. You're crazy”, Noora continued, increasingly annoyed. 

“No, I'm honest”, Sana countered, “Norwegian girls exchange sex for money, popularity, and acknowledgement every day. We might disagree on values, but this isn't news to you! It's your culture. It is crazy. So try to change it instead of criticising it.”

I had to grant her this point. It was all true, as shocking as it was, just as everything else Sana had just explained. Even Noora didn’t say anything anymore. She couldn’t deny it, and neither could the rest of us at it was the truth. The sad truth we had to live with. 

“But it's a little much to ask Eva to break up with her boyfriend”, Vilde said into the silence, still looking overstrained by that whole situation. I actually felt for her because same. 

“It was a suggestion”, Sana said, “She can think for herself. She's not a child.” 

Another brief period of silence. 

“I think this went well”, Sana ended our meeting nodding approvingly, seemingly pleased with the out-coming.


	4. Fire: Or Where Juliet Plays the Player

**Sunday, 14:11**

Sunday began just like I preferred them to start: Late and lazy. Or at least it was until I walked into Eva’s room simply dressed in a shirt to ask her if she wanted breakfast only to find her and Jonas in bed. Thanks god they were both wearing clothes and nothing was happening between them, but it was still pretty awkward, causing me to immediately close the door again… Good times.

To top this off, Eva’s mum also surprisingly arrived earlier than expected and I involuntarily oversaw Jonas running away through the front lawn, probably having escaped through Eva’s window. She should really tell her mum about him. 

I did however manage to restore quietness in my room by scrolling through Tumblr after the three of us have had brunch together, it was great seeing my aunt again after all. 

Her arrival had suddenly reminded me that I wouldn’t live here for much longer as my Dad would finally finish business back in London next week. It was a very weird feeling to know that I’d leave this house soon, it meant to truly start again in this new country, in a new place I had never lived in before. 

On one hand I was of course sad to leave Eva behind. It did console me though that we would still spend a lot of time together as both our parents were gone for business often anyway and the flat was only twenty minutes by tram from here as it was located in the northern part of Majorstuen. Dad and I would occupy the upper two floors of a townhouse. The practical thing was that I would be closer to Nissen as well as the centre and most importantly; the shopping areas. 

Dad had also promised me absolute freedom regarding the redecoration of our place as he knew how much I loved that kind of stuff and he wouldn’t be at home that much anyways. I had already seen it and fell in love with the charm of the beautiful French windows and the mint green tiles of the open kitchen which perfectly fit into my plan of decorating with blue and mint accents. 

I already decided to host a dinner for the girls as soon as I would finish decorating. Most of the stuff (mum had decided to left the most of it for me so I would feel at home her) from our townhouse in Notting Hill would arrive on Sunday, I already employed Eva and Noora as helpers to get my stuff up the stairs. The plan was to be almost finished when my Dad would arrive so he wouldn’t have to worry about it, he had enough on his mind.  
My attention got suddenly drawn away from my thoughts towards my phone, a What’s App message of an unknown number appearing. According to the prefix the number was Norwegian, so it couldn’t be one of my old friends in England whose numbers I still hadn’t saved in their entirety on my new number. But who else could it be then? 

**Unknown number:** Hey, Juliet, what you doing Friday? 

What the hell? Chris? How did he get my number? And why was he texting me? At this point his behaviour was slightly alarming, it was definitely a complete new level of a fuckboy’s willingness to conquer his current victim, that was for sure.

To be completely honest I was also mildly flattered that he took the effort to find out my number. Wait, scratch that last bit.

 **Lily:** Can’t say I ever had a stalker. What’s wrong with you, Chris?

As soon as I typed it I realised it might have been a bad move to reply. Crap. Now he would feel encouraged. 

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** I feel fine, thanks. So, Friday?

**Lily:** What’s on Friday?

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** There’s this party, you wanna come? You can bring your friends

I was just about to impolitely decline when I remembered the Russ group. Both Sana and Vilde would certainly kill me if I said no… And I actually didn’t mind parties. I could just try to stay as far away as possible from Chris? Maybe some of the people there would be cool? So I decided to go- for the groups sake- but I wouldn’t make it that easy for him.

 **Lily:** What’s in it for me?

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** A fun time, free booze and a potential make-out session with Nissen’s hottest and most popular guy

**Lily:** Omg thanks you wanna hook me up with William?!

Oh how I wished I could see Chris’ face right now. I bet it was hilarious. I obviously had no intentions regarding William, but fucking with Chris was just way too fun.

 **Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** haha, you crack me up 

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** Did you know that William still pissed his pants in first grade? That and his hair always falls in his face, it looks stupid. Who wants that when I’m available y’know

**Lily:** Gotta say, It’s impressive how much you love yourself

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** Thanks, babe

**Lily:** Not a compliment. 

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo: <"strong> So you coming Friday?**

**Lily:** you know what, yeah, but only because my friends would kill me if I wouldn’t, so don’t get any wrong ideas. You still suck

**Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** Oh wow, I really expected that I’d have to sell my soul or something to get you to come

**Lily:** Save the big stuff for later, another option would also be an unlimited supply of chocolate tho

 **Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** Duly noted

I already expected for the chat to end now, but about two minutes later I got another message.

 **Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** So is that offer about helping me with English still on?

 **Lily:** Sure, shoot

 **Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo:** What’s the deal about Romeo being such an insecure little shit if he’s like a prince or something?

**Monday, 14:47**

Eva and I were on our way through the hallways in direction to the courtyard, as our school day had officially ended. I was currently entertaining her with Chris’ latest shenanigans from English class this morning. 

Mr Jacobsen had paired the class up in groups of four, and as destiny seemed to piss on my feelings I had been paired with Chris, William (who I actually didn’t mind to be honest, he was chill) and the blonde girl that Chris had flirted with last week. Her name was Aline, and she was actually pretty cool, and also my only ally against the two Penetrators. I had just found out about the boys’ Russ Bus name today, and the pure ridiculousness of it was shocking. 

Our task had been to do a character analysis of Romeo and because Chris had actually done his work for once (which was because I helped him on Sunday via What’s App) he had bragged his ass off with his new gained knowledge.  
Aline and I had just exchanged knowing looks- superior feeling alpha males were obviously nothing new to us- but William actually had the guts to speak up after he had sat there for ten minutes, seeming to ignore everything. 

“Listen, mate”, he had said to his best friend in an annoyed tone, “just stop showing off, alright? I’m pretty sure neither Lily nor Aline are gonna think you have a bigger dick because you suddenly know some shit about Shakespeare.”

“Bullshit, I don’t brag about anything”, Chris had exclaimed, acting hurt by Aline’s and my laughter surrounding him. Yes, William seemed to be one of the good ones. 

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“You sure, dude?”, William had insisted with a raised brow, “because I can clearly recall that night last year you got wasted as fuck and called your face proof for god’s existence.”

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That had given Aline and me the rest, and neither of us had been able to concentrate for the rest of the lesson as we were just laughing too hard. 

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It was safe to say Eva had found all of it just as hilarious, we were both laughing our asses off while we exited the building into the yard when Vilde suddenly appeared behind us, visibly rushing to catch up.

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“I have to talk to you guys”, she came straight to the point, “I don't know what you guys think, but do you feel like Sana fits in our bus group?” 

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“Yes, absolutely”, I deadpanned, not wanting to talk about stuff like this right now. Holy fuck, couldn’t she just stop, please? Only half a minute ago I had been in an excellent mood… 

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Eva on the other hand opted for the diplomatic route; “Maybe she's a bit strict…”

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“She asked you to break up with your boyfriend!”, Vilde reminded Eva, animating her to jump to Vilde’s conclusion. 

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In loss of fitting words and unwillingness to agree with Vilde any more than that, Eva just scoffed, only causing the blonde to continue; “But do you agree that she can't join our bus? I talked to Chris-” 

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Thankfully Sana just walked into the yard at right this moment together with Chris, saving me and Eva from this awkward situation and causing Vilde to shut up. 

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“Hey!”, Chris greeted us, “Sana was wondering something.” 

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“How many rolls of toilet paper do you have?”, the girl asked Vilde directly, all business. 

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Sana clearly wasn’t going to waste her time, so she just reacted to Vilde’s hesitation with an enforcement of her question; “Do you want to get rid of them or not?” 

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“Eight pallets”, Vilde finally answered, unassertively. 

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Sana was just about to elaborate on whatever she came to say, when our attention was absorbed by Chris, male Chris, coming through the yard strolling past us. Oh no. 

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“Hi, Juliet”, he greeted me with his usual charming grin. 

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Thanks god he didn’t stop or anything, but I still knew that his mere presence put me into deep trouble. 

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“You said you didn't know anyone from '97?”, Sana immediately asked, demanding an instantaneous answer. Hell, I was fucked. 

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“Why did he call you Juliet?”, Vilde asked curiously.

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“Ehh…”, I said in loss of words to Sana, “So you see I was choking on Vilde’s cupcake…” 

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Sana’s look was clearly displeased but to my luck she seemed to have decided to let my mishap pass and grant me mercy. Maybe destiny did give a fuck about my feelings?

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“He's in a bus with William. That’s his best friend”, Sana said now.

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I only had to give her a single look to know that her mastermind was already planning something. And it was probably nothing in my favour. 

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“Is he?!”, Vilde asked Sana excitedly, getting into fangirl mode. Interesting, so we did have something in common, William must be something to her like Leo DiCaprio was to me. Huh. 

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“Who's William?”, Eva asked unsuspecting into the round, earning a perplexed screech from Vilde. 

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“You don't know who William is?”, she asked in a tone as if Eva had wanted to know who Harry Potter was. 

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But Eva just kept her cool, shook her head and shrugged; “No.” Her attitude made clear that she didn’t really care either way. 

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“He's the most handsome and coolest guy in all of third year.”, Vilde swooned. Yep, she definitely wasted way too much time thinking about William, no one would get this excited otherwise. 

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“That is William”, Sana said looking at William who casually walked past us like he just heard his cue, the girls literally staring at him as he did so. I wanted to hide in shame of this embarrassment. 

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And then the second worst thing of the day happened; William nodded in my direction. 

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“Oh my god!”, Vilde immediately squealed, “Do you know him? Does he know you??”, Her entire posture revealed her excitement, her hands over her mouth. 

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“Um, we kinda met in class”, I answered, “He’s nice. It’s just because I take English with the third year. Chris introduced him to me.”

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Vilde looked like she was about to faint. 

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“You’re our salvation, Lily”, Sana announced now, a pleased smile decorating her pretty face, “this is going so well. What needs to happen now is that you get to know Chris better.” 

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“But I don’t wanna hook up with him, he’s an annoying idiot”, I said, getting a little quieter with every word. Sana’s look made clear that she wouldn’t tolerate resistance in this case. I just helplessly exchanged a look with Eva, who just shrugged. 

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“Sure?”, Vilde asked eagerly, “He’s like superhot. But anyways, you don't have to hook up with him! Just get to know him so we can party on the bus with William. You can say that that is why you're doing it.”

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“Yeah, because he will respect and accept that”, I replied dryly, “You clearly haven’t meet that guy.”

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“Whatever”, Sana intervened decidedly, “give me your phone, you’ll follow him on Instagram”, already grabbing it after I took a second too long. This however made me smile, as Sana wasn’t aware of a crucial information.

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“I don’t have Instagram.”, I announced, making Sana roll her eyes. I’d declare this a win?

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To prevent the inevitable backlash from both Sana and Vilde who stared at me reproachfully I shared further details. They were aware now that Chris and I knew each other, there was no point in trying to keep back everything else. And I had wanted to tell them about the invite to Friday’s party anyways. 

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“Instagram is honestly not even necessary”, I began, “He somehow found out my number, and well, he texted me over the weekend”, Sana’s and Vilde’s smiles returned, while Chris was still looking mildly confused but chill with everything, and for Eva this was old news anyway. Now that I thought about it I would have to text Noora or something.

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“Guess who’s invited to party with the Penetrators guys on Friday?”, I threw into the round, immediately sparking excitement, verbal pats on my back and talks about alcohol. It was safe to say my standing in the group had risen considerably. 

**Friday, 20:41**

****

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The party was thriving, people were drinking and I sat squished between Noora and Eva on a couch once again, talking. 

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The night had begun with Chris not so subtly checking me out when he opened the door for us, definitely seeming to like my dress, or more specifically; its neckline. 

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It had only taken us like two minutes- after I shook of Chris, fortunately he seemed to respect my boundaries, or at least he did when my friends were around- until we spotted Pepsi Max, of whose group name I had just heard of recently. Ridiculous, no?  
Was no one around here able to give themselves a cool squad name? 

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As it was to expect Eva immediately froze, more than unhappy to see her former friends who treated her like shit here. There was no need to mention how massive my second hand hatred for them was. Noora and I had quickly taken Eva in our middle, guiding her away from that toxic group. 

Thankfully only five minutes later my cousin was enjoying herself again due to Noora’s and mine excellent distraction abilities. Vilde on the other hand had immediately gone over to greet our rival group, a confusing move as Eva just informed me about a rumour of them throwing Vilde out of their bus. 

Both Sana and Girl Chris had disappeared soon after as well, leaving us three to hang out on the sofa and catch up on life. 

The blonde was currently still laughing her ass of about what happened in English class on Monday- I just couldn’t help myself, I felt like I needed to tell everyone- when I suddenly felt the urge to get up. I had been sitting in a very tight space for at least an hour after all, I needed to move. 

“I’ll go get us some drinks”, I announced to the girls while getting up, earning an amused look from Eva.

“Try not to get assaulted by Chris!”, she called after me, causing me to laugh.

That was until I realised that I should potentially be on the look-out for that scenario? Speaking of the devil, where was Chris anyway? 

At the beginning of the night I had spotted him close by, talking to his friends while drinking. It was kinda cute how he seemed to check from time to time if I was planning to leave the company of my friends anytime soon. 

At some point however, he seemed to get that I had no intention of getting rid of my company and disappeared for a while. The last time I had spotted him through the crowd had been when he flirted with some girl about twenty minutes ago. Not so cute anymore, but it wasn’t like I cared. 

It was actually pretty hard to squeeze my way through the shit ton of people in attendance to find something to drink. I wasn’t even on the lookout for alcohol actually, I really just wanted something to stop my throat from itching. I already had two Vodka shots back home anyway which meant I was at the pleasant stage of not being drunk but still feeling carefree.

Here’s when I noticed that thirst wasn’t my only problem as a second and a third one had already announced themselves before I even reached the hallway. The second Problem was hunger; the third one was Chris. 

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“Lily”, he exclaimed in a voice as charming as ever while I tried to squeeze myself through the hallway, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“What a coincidence”, I answered sarcastically while I kept walking towards where I assumed the kitchen to be, “I’ve been avoiding you everywhere, Proof of god’s existence.”

Chris’ laughter was way too close to my ear to keep my head straight, so I just fought my way through the crowds in an even quicker pace. Here I had the advantage for once, passing through crowds was made considerably easier through my lesser body mass. Chris on the other hand didn’t have advantage. 

I had already- finally- reached the kitchen and opened the fridge to take some juice out when Chris came back into the picture.

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“What the fuck is up with this crowd”, Chris cursed under his breath while I happily started sipping my juice. God, I was thirsty.

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As soon as I was done I decided to now tackle the second problem; hunger. 

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At this point I honestly didn’t really care for the privacy for whoever was the host- I mean everyone that ever hosted a party knew that evasion of privacy was unavoidable anyway- and started to inspect the kitchen cabinets on the hunt for some snacks. Sadly, the fridge I had opened earlier had only been stocked with drink. 

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“What are you looking for?”, Chris asked curiously, finishing his beer from earlier while leaning on the kitchen counter.

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“Just looking for food”, I answered absentmindedly.

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Man, was I hungry, I certainly didn’t have time for small talk right now. Hell, why had I been so stupid to leave the house without eating before? A truly ridiculous mistake.

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I had opened about three cabinets so far, but the only edible thing I had found was Kale. It was safe to say I was getting frustrated.

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“Let me help you”, Chris offered, already opening some of the upper cabinets whose higher compartments were out of my reach.

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“Jackpot!”, he exclaimed after examining the second upper cabinet he opened, “Pretzels or Chocolate?”

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“I claim the Chocolate!”, I announced, immediately getting excited. That was exactly what I had been looking for. So Chris did have some use other than looking pretty!

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He finally turned around with a bag of Pretzels and a gigantic chocolate bar in his hands which I hungrily inspected. I was just about to reach for it when Chris quickly moved away from the cabinets towards the kitchen door, leaving me back confused and hungry.

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“Sorry, Princess”, he said, mischief written in his eyes, holding the chocolate over his head like bait with a smirk on his face. 

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Well, that might be the first time I had to hunt for my food, but I certainly wouldn’t disappoint. That chocolate was mine. 

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Chris’ and my eyes met, and the spark in mine announcing war. He was out of the door in a heartbeat, causing me to run after him. Thanks god I didn’t wear heels. 

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This time the people standing in our way literally made space immediately to not end up as a battle field. The crowds however cleared more and more because Chris ran into the opposite direction of the huge living room we had come from originally. 

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After a short while of chasing him I realised that he was leading me into the backyard. Or in this case, a full-fledged garden. 

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I finally caught up with him now, he was standing in the garden smirking like there was no tomorrow, still holding his hostage, my chocolate.

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“Took you a while”, Chris said, laughing.

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As I saw it I had three options now. 

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The first one was to abandon the situation and just leave Chris and the chocolate here. Me choosing that was however pretty unlikely as one, I was still super hungry, and as two, I just couldn’t let Chris win this round. My pride wouldn’t be able to survive this. 

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The second option was to try my best to tackle him. But again, Success here was pretty unlikely, considering that the last time I went to the gym was about three years ago and I was pretty sure Chris worked out. And that wasn’t even considering the height difference… I also didn’t even have the surprise moment on my side as I was pretty sure physical aggression was what Chris expected me to do. 

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So I was left with the third option: Manipulation. If Chris had one weakness it certainly was women, or at least that was the information I gathered in the couple weeks that I knew him. Seduction should do the trick. I’ve seen it done a hundred times in the movies, so how hard could it be?

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I bit my lip in thought, my hand going through my hair while I slowly walked towards Chris. He suddenly got confused-demonstrated by his furrowed brows- when I put on a smile. Only a second later however, his own smile resurfaced. He immediately seemed to buy what I was selling, such an easy target. 

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I stopped only a couple inches away from him, smirking while I played with my hair once again. It seemed to go excellently so far, but I nevertheless still hoped that I didn’t look as stupid as I felt. Fuck, this needed to work out, because if it wouldn’t the next English lesson would be a living hell.

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The music blasting out of the house was still audible, and The Weekend was on. So I just tried to ease into it, letting Abel guiding moves for the next step. 

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“Chris”, I said, my voice raspy, not lifting my eyes. His dark hair was still messy from our race, but his breathing fast and heavy, even though he clearly seemed to repress it. He almost looked… dishevelled? So different than his usually so confident self. His smile changed when I touched his arm and finally looked up at him through my lashes, getting ready to stand on my tiptoes and lean in so I could whisper in his ear.

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“What does a girl have to do to get her way with you, Starboy?”, I whispered, my lips almost touching his skin, his body heath transcending its way into mine. We were impossibly close.

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Chris was desperate, I could feel it. He didn’t even try to hide it as his eyes were beaming with confidence and desire, yet he still hadn’t touched me. 

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“I don’t know, you tell me”, he replied, his voice so low and raspy I had to lean in closer. 

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I licked my lips, and that’s when something in him snapped, suddenly letting the food fall, leaving it discarded on the grass. In one swift sudden movement he wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing my body against his, his other hand at my jaw. He was warm and his hand felt rough against my soft skin. 

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Chris’ eyes were dark, and the way he looked at my lips revealed how close he was to just kiss me and drag me into an empty room.

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“You’re so fucking beautiful”, he said huskily and leaned down, his thumb gently running over my lower lip. 

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I suddenly tried to remind myself of my plan, but holy fucking shit Chris knew what he was doing. He felt so good, but I also suddenly remembered who he was. I wasn’t supposed to be kissing a certain Penetrator who was firmly placed on my to-not-do list. He would just throw me away after he’d be done using me. I knew enough guys like him to know that.

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And so I pulled together all the strength I had left in me and seized the surprise moment. It almost hurt when I suddenly wrung myself out of Chris’ arms, the cold air biting me now that I lost his warmth. 

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As soon as I could I got a hold of the chocolate and the pretzels on the grass, being forced to decide whether I should run or not. With a look at Chris who was exasperatedly kicking away a discarded football I chose the latter. This was too good to miss, wasn’t I supposed to enjoy my win?

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Chris just stood there looking shocked now, his face equally traumatised and looking like someone just stole his favourite candy from him. God, I was such an asshole. I probably went too far. 

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With a look to the snacks I had just conquered to hand him the pretzels as a peace offering. I mean, I could relate to being hungry. 

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“You’re ruthless. Well played”, Chris admitted into the silence.

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A defeated smile lighted up his face as soon as he recovered from the shock. This smile was different however, it had less of his usual charm with a dash of deception and more of- dare I say it? - respect.

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“Thanks”, I said, reciprocating the smile. I was actually pretty relieved to find out that he wasn’t a sore loser.

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It didn’t take two minutes until Chris had ripped the package open, and started to stuff himself. He had sat down on the steps that led from the house to the garden to eat in peace. 

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The grumble of my stomach suddenly reminded me of my hunger and the chocolate in my hand, and with a look at Chris I decided to join him. 

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I didn’t even get the chance to tell him to make some space as he already shifted his body to the right to give me the option to sit. Smooth bastard, he knew I wouldn’t just let him eat outside alone. 

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His grin confirmed my assumption as I took my first bite of the delicious chocolate I had fought so hard for. Deciding to ignore the Goosebumps on my arms which stemmed from the cold I dug into the chocolate bar. 

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“Are you cold? Do you want-“, Chris attempted to ask, but I quickly interrupted him.

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“Your sweater? Yeah, I’m cold, but I’d rather die of hypothermia than to wear one of your frankly, ridiculous sweaters. So, thanks, but no thanks.”

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Chris immediately chuckled, clearly enjoying my stubbornness, looking incredibly content with the world while continuing to eat. 

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I couldn’t help but smile at him when he wasn’t looking, even though I remained sure of my declaration. Just on Thursday Noora had steered my attention to a common tradition of the Penetrators which was giving their flings one of their Russ sweaters so they would walk around school like trophies. Both Noora and I had agreed how disgusting this was, so I really preferred the cold. 

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Chris and I sat on the steps for a while, both of us peacefully munching on our respective snacks. It was funny, but nevertheless of what just happened I felt weirdly comfortable in his presence. Must be the food or something.

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“Alright, Juliet”, Chris spoke into the silence after he finished up his pretzels, “tell me something about yourself that would surprise me.”  
His voice sounded sincere and this time there was no smirk attached to it, so for once, I decided to treat him as a friend and didn’t resort back to the annoyed self I usually became in his presence. 

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“Oh we’re really doing this right now?”, I still teased him, but with full intention to answer. Just as I expected, Chris insisted.

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“Alright, let’s see”, I began, going through my brain to find something interesting, at least Chris knew barely anything about me, so it shouldn’t be so hard to surprise him. 

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“I speak three and a half languages.”, I blurted out.

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“Wait what?”, Chris asked visibly astounded, “how the fuck do you speak three and a half languages? Who are you, Einstein?”

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“So, Norwegian because my Dad’s from here, English because duh.”, I elaborated, but suddenly I felt myself hesitating, realising that my answer was about to become pretty personal. Reassured through Chris’ encouraging- albeit confused- smile, I decided to continue. 

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“The third language would be Hebrew because I’m Jewish from my mother’s side. The “and a half” is French. I learned some because I had it at school and like French movies. Questions?”

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To my delight Chris’ expression didn’t change negatively, but his face suddenly lit up instead.

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“I knew it though”, he said, sounding very pleased with himself, “That you’re Jewish I mean.”

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“How?”, I asked, immensely confused and genuinely interested. Every person I ever met and was deemed worthy enough to get personal with had told me I was the least Jewish looking person that they had ever seen. I still wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult to be honest…

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“Your star”, Chris said while pushing my hair over my shoulder so he could reach my necklace, gently holding up the pendant. 

My star, the Star of David, obviously. I pretty much wore it most the time since I was twelve, so I sometimes forgot about it. Everyone usually oversaw the golden pendant as it was admittedly very tiny. 

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“You know, I have an eye for detail, Juliet”, Chris bragged, a bright grin on his face.

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I was honestly surprised that he actually paid attention, making me smile as well.  
I was just about to ask him to tell me something about himself as well, when I heard quick steps coming closer, causing both of us to turn around. It was an exasperated looking Eva who immediately dragged me up and away from Chris.

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“No time to explain”, she said, quickly making me move towards the exit. Something significant must have happened, my cousin was usually not like that. And so I went in a hurry without a proper goodbye, leaving Chris behind on the patio.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on I'm gonna try to post every sunday, I just have way to much stress with school to post more often. Please leave me a kudo or a comment if you liked it!:)


	5. Fem, Or Where No One Appreciates Gratin Dauphinois

# Fem

**Saturday, 14:10**

Eva, Noora and I were just about done carrying the boxes up to the third floor. I was insanely glad that Dad had organised for most of the heavier stuff- mainly furniture- to have already been brought in by the moving company. The boxes the girls and I had brought up were just delicate stuff like table ware and decorative elements. I couldn’t wait to unpack the China.

We had stacked everything in the middle of the living room, and were just laying on the floor now, tired as fuck. I had just called for Pizza, and it was safe to say we all couldn’t wait for it to arrive. Carrying all the stuff up had exhausted me so much, it was embarrassing. I should _really_ start making sport (but who was I kidding?).

Originally, I had invited all of the girls but both Sana and Chris had a family thing and Vilde said she’d have to study. Due to the fact that the school year had just started I was just assuming the blonde wasn’t a fan of carrying boxes.

“When’s the pizza here?”, Eva groaned, even though she knew I’d only called a couple minute ago. It was almost funny how she laid there on the floor, limbs stretched out. My guess was that she was probably still a little hungover from yesterday, she wasn’t usually this exhausted by manual labour like me. 

“I don’t know man, ten minutes?”, I guessed while I reluctantly got up to carry one of the boxes labelled “Kitchen” onto said counter. We’d probably need some plates for later.

“Did I tell you guys that Jonas wants to meet mum?”, Eva said into the comfortable silence, staring at the ceiling. 

“No”, Noora answered for both of us, sitting gracefully next to Eva on the floor. 

I had literally no idea why they didn’t just sit on the couch. The flat might _look_ like a giant mess with all the boxes standing around, but almost all of the heavy furniture like the couch, beds and a TV were here and fully functioning. 

“Why? Don’t you want him to meet her?”, Noora asked, playing with a strand of her short hair while leaning against the coffee table.

“Yeah, why?”, I agreed with her while walking out of the open kitchen back towards the living room, “I’m sure she’d like Jonas. You could just invite him for dinner before Aunty leaves again on Saturday?”  
“You think so?”, Eva asked undecidedly, still exasperatedly looking at the ceiling. 

“But I don’t want to force him to eat mum’s awful cooking”, she kept complaining solemnly until her expression suddenly changed and a mischievous smirk appeared. Uh oh. That usually never meant any good for me.

“Alright”, she continued, grinning in the way that only Eva Mohn could, “I’ll invite him if _you_ make dinner!”

…I rolled my eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah”, I sighed, sitting down on the couch, “but you’ll owe me one.” Has there ever been anything I wouldn’t do for my cousin?

“Thanks, Little”, Eva said while jumping up to press a kiss on my cheek, becoming all bubbly again. In usual Eva fashion she bounced next to me on the sofa, immediately laying her head on my lap and letting her long legs dangle over the edge of the sofa. 

“Then again…”, Eva began, her expression unexpectedly changing back to looking solemn. 

That on the other hand was not normal. Her mood changed way too many times today for everything to be alright. It was suspicious. 

“What happened?”, Noora asked, taking the words out of my mouth. 

“I think there’s something going on between him and Ingrid.”, Eva blurted out. 

Oh, god, no. 

According to her face she had seemed to think about this for quite some time, but was dreading to talk about it. 

I knew where this was coming from as repression seemed to lie in the family. Speaking out meant to make her suspicion part of reality. Now that she had let the words come out of her mouth she wouldn’t be able to deny her thoughts any longer. 

I instinctively started petting Eva’s hair, something I always used to do when we were little and she had a nightmare. This had been often after her Dad- this son of a bitch- had left his wife and daughter. 

“I assume Ingrid as in slutshaming-Ingrid?”, Noora scoffed, obviously not content with the girl… Same.

I nodded, not really knowing what to say and glad that Noora had taken over.

“I obviously don’t have that much experience”, the blonde contemplated, “but for some reason I don’t think he has anything going on with Ingrid. It just doesn’t make sense I think. Jonas seems serious about you I mean he wants to meet your mum!” Noora made a little pause before she continued, furrowing her brows, “But then again he’s a guy… and guys lie. I’d just suggest you wait and see what happens. Or do you have any hard evidence?”

Eva shook her head, a negated groan coming from her mouth. I agreed with Noora’s reasoning but was at a loss of words again, so I just nodded and kept trying to comfort Eva. 

“Can you guys believe Vilde hooked up with William though?”, Eva said in a very obvious attempt to change the topic. Her voice had normalised again however. It seemed like it actually might have helped her to speak up and hear comforting words. 

Noora and I exchanged a look, deciding that we wouldn’t ask further. I for one was no person to disrespect someone’s wishes and keep digging. And Eva knew for sure that she could always come to me with anything anyway as ultimately we were each other’s closest family. 

“I bet she’s still hyperventilating”, I said dryly while raising my brows, making Eva chuckle. 

“Maybe he’s not as much of an asshole as he seems?”, Noora added, “even though I’m not sure if we’ll ever hear the end of it either way.”

“Let’s just hope she won’t open a fan club”, I laughed, “I’m not gonna be forced to start walking around school with a _Penetrators_ fan shirt on. I _won’t_ be disrespected like this.”

The girls fell into laughter as well, and Eva seemed to ease back into her usual positive self for good. 

“Yeah, yeah”, she said with a teasing smile on her lips which usually announced that she was about to roast me, “I’m sure _Chris_ wouldn’t mind that.”

Her laughter just got way louder while I tried to hide my face behind my hands. I was- admittedly- still laughing (the pain away?), looking for a clever comeback. I didn’t find one in time. 

“I remember last night when you two were sitting outside”, Eva lilted, wiggled her brows, “wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d have eaten you right there and then. And I heard him calling you ‘Juliet’, so tell me precious little Juliet, what was _that_ all about?”

Okay, so I would officially like to descend into hell now. Damnit, Chris even managed to pester me when he wasn’t even _around_ , it was almost magical. Must be some kind of dark witchcraft for sure. 

“Is it because you guys read Romeo and Juliet in class?”, Noora curiously chimed in, sounding innocent. 

For a second there I actually thought she’d come to my defence, until she continued with a tone almost as teasing as Eva’s. Lovely. 

“So, did he already start shouting things at you from two floors underneath?”, she snickered, exchanging an eyebrow wiggle with Eva.

I still hadn’t been able to come up with a comeback, and so I had truly never been as grateful for Pizza like in this moment when the ring of the bell interrupted the conversation. This of course gave me the opportunity to literally run away from my friends, all my tiredness immediately forgotten. God bless glorious, cheesy Pizza. 

 

**Friday, 19:47**

I was just pushing the Gratin Dauphinois into the oven and set the timer when I decided to go down to Eva’s room to hang with the girls for exactly 30 minutes until I’d be called back to the kitchen. The salad was already prepared and the table set, so I was pretty much done here anyway. 

Admittedly, I had gone a bit overboard on the cooking, but I really wanted this thing to go well. I knew it was important for Eva and cooking was the only way I could help to ensure everything would go smoothly, so I was glad to do it. The food was supposed to calm everyone’s- including my- nerves and it would definitely be beneficial to not let Jonas die of food poisoning after eating my aunt’s good awful cooking. 

“I’ll be down at Eva’s”, I yelled in direction to my aunts’ office where she was working on something, “In case I don’t hear the timer, can you take the potatoes out?”

I heard a muffled “sure”, and so I made my way down the stairs where Eva, Noora, Chris and Vilde hung out on the bed, the latter two drinking. They were discussing Vilde’s fear of her first time which she was planning to have with William at some point later this evening. The poor girl still didn’t seem to have stomached our terrible- but admittedly a little amusing- visit at the nurse’s office. 

“Hey guys”, I greeted everyone, plopping on the bed and consequently shoving Noora more towards the middle, “Food’s pretty much done”, I said at Eva who gave me a grateful smile in return. 

“You get horny when talking about clothes and make-up?”, Noora asked Chris, seeming to reference what had been discussed earlier. After the sound of it I definitely wasn’t pissed to have missed this conversation. 

Chris was just contributing a hilarious story about getting horny from donkeys- what the fuck? - when Eva’s mum’s voice interrupted the conversation. 

“Eva? Lily?”, she screamed from upstairs, obviously asking us to join her in the living room. With a look on my phone I realised that Jonas was supposed to be here any minute now.

“We’re coming!”, Eva yelled back, suddenly noticing that having the girls here hadn’t been the best move on her part. 

“Okay, you guys have to leave now”, she instructed, just like we all had discussed at some point at the beginning of the evening. 

“We can't go, he hasn't sent a message yet”, Vilde protested.

The problem was just that neither Eva nor I really had time for this now. I had been planning this dinner for a week now additionally to unpacking every box in my apartment and standing in the kitchen for two hours. 

“Go to your house, then”, I thus instructed her. This needed to go well, and nobody would ruin this for Eva, the least a drunk Vilde. 

“I can't go home, I've been drinking”, Vilde continued protesting and starting to look a little desperate. I understood her situation, but at this point Eva and this dinner were my priority, not her. 

“Can't we just sit here? We can be quiet.”, Noora suggested some kind of compromise.

Then another yell from upstairs motivated us to speed up.

“Girls?”, my aunty called, prompting us to finally get up.

“We’re coming!”, I yelled back, while Eva continued talking to Vilde. 

“Okay, okay!”, Eva whispered forcefully, “But you have to be really quiet and leave through the window, okay?”, she instructed Vilde, Noora and Chris while I was already walking towards the stairs and winked them goodbye.

Eva’s mum already greeted us at the end of the stairs, smiling at us. In comparison to my mum she was always so chill, I always appreciated that so much. 

“Shouldn't your boyfriend be coming now?”, she asked her daughter while I walked towards the kitchen to check on the food. 

“Eh, yes!”, I heard Eva’s muted voice, “he sent a message that he's a bit delayed. You can just finish your work, and I’ll call you when he’s here!”

My aunt didn’t see a problem with this, but I was low key freaking out, I really had no chill. I was pretty sure Eva was texting him furiously at this very moment, righteously so. 

Shortly later Eva entered the kitchen, looking stressed out.

“Can I help?”, she asked while staring at her phone, obviously awaiting a text from Jonas. How could he anyways? Wasn’t it him who had asked to meet Eva’s mum? I started to get angry while mixing the dressing with the salad. He was over ten minutes late now. 

Some minutes later the ring of the bell finally ended the loaded silence in the kitchen, causing Eva to let out a gasp of relief.

“Finally”, she mouthed in my direction while quickly making her way to the nearby door.

I could hear the turning of the key and the crack of the door, but to my surprise I heard… nothing.

That was suspicious, and I didn’t like it one bit. My nerves were strained and I didn’t get why Eva wasn’t angry at the newly presumably arrived Jonas. She had every right to be and yell at him pretty loudly, especially as I was pretty sure my aunty wouldn’t hear her from the office. So why didn’t I hear sounds? 

Deciding that this was annoying the hell out of me I walked out of the kitchen with the big salad bowl still in my arms while snapping just loud enough so Eva and Jonas (?) could hear me coming.

“I made bloody Gratin Dauphinois for him, that idiot better be at the door!”, I said angrily.

And then, when I reached the point where I could see the door, I realised. Instead of Jonas there was _William_ leaning at the doorstep. A laughing William to be exact. 

It was safe to say that I didn’t expect that.

“God, I pity Chris”, he chuckled, making me consider throwing the salad at him. 

Before I got the chance to do so however, my aunt appeared in the hallway, probably assuming Jonas had arrived. That would be fun.

“Hi!”, my aunty said while shacking William’s hand, definitely thinking that this was Jonas. 

Thankfully William was gentleman enough to greet her back with his nicest smile, proving how much better mannered he was in comparison with his best friend. 

“Hi! Nice to meet you, I’m William”, he introduced himself, earning a pleased smile from my aunt, revealing to me that Eva hadn’t told her mum Jonas’ name.

“No, no, no”, Eva thankfully intervened now, “This isn't my boyfriend. This is Vilde's boyfriend.”

And I finally realised why exactly William was standing here right now. Vilde must have texted him to get her here.

“Oh, really? Who's Vilde?”, Eva’s mum asked interested, reminding me that she still wasn’t aware of the fallout between my cousin and her former friends Ingrid and Sara and thus also of Eva’s new friends.

“Just a friend”, Eva answered smoothly, “William thought Vilde was here, but she isn't. So he's leaving now.”, she made clear for him to leave. 

So everything was turning out alright until suddenly the girls appeared in the garden, having chosen the worst possible moment to flee out of Eva’s window. This whole situation was just getting worse and worse. 

“Chris, Noora, Vilde!”, Eva said, genuinely surprised, “What are you doing here?”, she played along, definitely unsure on how to handle this properly and explain. Sadly, I didn’t either.

“Remember when I borrowed your jacket?”, Noora jumped in, “Well we thought we'd bring it. But you weren't in your basement, so we left it in a bag outside... your window.”

This explanation wasn’t even that bad I guess, but if my aunt wouldn’t notice that both Vilde and Chris were walking on shaky legs she must be blind. Which she wasn’t of course. 

“Yeah, thanks!”, Eva answered nervously, “But now you surely have to go again?”

“Yeah, yeah. We have so many jackets to deliver. So we'll just...”, Noora said, gesturing for the other girls to leave.

Oh god, even _she_ didn’t look convincingly sober. How weird, I thought she didn’t drink?

“Thanks, see you!”, I finally spoke up, quickly closing the door in William’s face to avoid an extension of this situation. He’d surely find the way towards Vilde on his own and the girls would understand.

“What's going on here, Eva?”, my aunt immediately interrogated her daughter as I had already expected to happen. Eva pleaded innocent. 

“Were those girls drunk?”, she asked now both of us, looking concerned. 

We both kept on denying until Eva got a call and finally got the chance to excuse herself, presumably it was Jonas calling. 

I finished the argument as quickly as possible, and when I finally found Eva back in her room a couple minutes later she looked utterly destroyed. 

“He’s not coming anymore.”

 

**Saturday, 2:00**

It was late when received the call. I was half asleep, an episode of _How I Met Your Mother_ still playing in the background.

I had come home pretty late after it had taken me quite some time to cheer Eva up after the night had become such a disaster, so it took me a while to find my phone under the blanket, expecting to hear from my cousin. I had of course waited to leave until she had fallen asleep, but who knew, maybe she had woken up and needed emergency ice cream?

So I was taken by utmost surprise when I saw the caller ID; It was Chris, still saved as **Fuckboy aka Wannabe Romeo.**

My phone steadily kept on ringing, and for some godforsaken reason I decided to pick up, expecting some kind of drunk call. 

I heard his raspy, uneven breathing before I heard his voice, and I immediately knew that something was wrong, as sleepy and confused as I was. 

“Lily?” Chris finally broke the silence, sounding like he was carefully trying to get his breath to come out more steadily. I was absolutely terrified and hadn’t even noticed that people were supposed to say something when they took a call. 

“I’m here”, I quickly answered, “Are you okay? _Chris?”_

More breathing and a supressed groan. I for sure had seen enough movies and TV shows to be able to deduce that the sound came from repression of pain. I felt panic rising up inside my body.

“Listen, Lil’”, Chris said, his voice still sounding like it was going to break any minute, “I’m so sorry to drag you into this, but I kinda need your help. Where are you?”

“Home”, I answered quickly and without hesitation, “Do you need me to come get you?”

At this point I didn’t care if we were on good terms or that I could neither drive nor teleport him anywhere. All that mattered was that whatever was going on terrified me. He must be in deep shit to call _me_ , out of everyone, at this hour and I would never refuse help in such a situation anyway. 

“No, but-”, Chris said, his steps audible through the speaker, “I need some place to stay, and I can’t go home. You should see my face right now”, he laughed weakly in a poor attempt to be funny.

I decided that one day I would kill this guy while I quickly gave him my address. Thanks god Dad would only arrive on Monday and I was alone here. 

“Thanks, I’ll be there in 10.”, Chris answered, saying a quick goodbye before hanging up and leaving me there confused and with no idea of what had happened and how I could try to fix whatever it was. All I could think of was panic and my will to hit Chris as soon as I would make sure that he was alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay, but I can assure you guys that you're gonna love the next chapter!


	6. Seks, Or Where Juliet Is Playing Nurse

# Seks  


**Saturday, 2:10**

Whatever the hell Chris had gotten himself into, I was sure as hell that it wasn’t pretty. So it took me about a minute to pull myself together while a million different scenarios were running through my head, none of them pleasant in the slightest.

Then I did what every sensible person would do in this kind of situation: Excessive googling. 

Settling on the most plausible explanation I had come up with- of course my idiot-self had been way to shocked to ask for specifics during the phone call- and looked up first aid. Chances were Chris had been in some kind of- probably incredibly stupid- fight, I figured. 

So I clicked on the first seemingly legitimate article about what to do in such a case and tried to prepare everything accordingly. 

Thus I quickly made my way up from the couch and towards the kitchen to fill a bowl with hot water and then ran to the bathroom to get more supplies from the Medical cabinet. I took some gaze, numbing cream, painkillers along with rubbing alcohol and some bandages. 

I had just installed the first aid kit on Monday, so in this moment I was incredibly glad that my parents had raised me to always be prepared for anything. 

As soon as I had gathered and neatly rowed up the essentials on the coffee table in front of the sofa my panic started to set back in. There wasn’t anything else I could logically do to help until Chris would arrive so I could examine what further measures to take. And if there was one thing that made me freak out was losing control over a situation. I had literally no fucking clue what was awaiting me, and I couldn’t even _think_ about how Chris was doing right now. 

So I just went to my bathroom upstairs to splash some water on my face in hopes of it making me calm down a little, or at least refreshing me a bit.

A look on my phone told me that Chris should more or less arrive here in a couple minutes. Trying to keep myself occupied until then I quickly rinsed some contact solution into my terribly dry eyes as I hadn’t removed the contacts due to me falling asleep on the couch. I had also forgotten to remove my makeup- which usually never happened, goddamnit- and barely recognised myself due to my panda eyes and the uneven look of my tinted moisturiser  
since I had just splashed water on my skin. Thus I quickly took a makeup wipe and removed everything.

It helped in a way because I felt less disgusting now, but the problem was that my pale, sleep deprived face and the couple blemishes on my forehead looked way worse than before. 

Deciding to just fuck everything and give into my vanity I applied some fresh tinted moisturiser, concealer under my eyes and forehead as well as some colour for my lips and cheeks along with mascara. When I was done I also quickly went into my room to put on some shorts as I usually lounged on the sofa in an oversized shirt. 

_Now_ I felt human again and ready to take on whatever was gonna come out of this situation. 

I was extremely glad when the doorbell finally rang and ended my waiting, announcing that Chris must be standing outside. Either that or I was about to let a serial killer who wanted to murder me maliciously into my house. 

Nevertheless, I probably never clicked on the opening button for the door downstairs so fast. I could hear slow steps in the stairway, causing me to cram the keys from the kitchen counter and then nervously nestle on the lock to open the door. It was kind of heavy as the lock was old, just like the rest of the beautiful building. I usually really loved old stuff but now it was stressing me out like hell. 

When I finally managed to open the door Chris had already reached the third floor, walking along the hallway towards me. I only gasped when I noticed that he looked just as bad as I had expected. I wanted to run towards him but something in me kept me rooted inside my flat, my hands clutched over my mouth.

There was a small gash on the top of his left cheekbone paired with a red bruise on his jawline, and the way he walked and his short breath made it obvious that there was something wrong on his side. The whole picture was completed with some already dried blood on his face and clothes. 

I had never actually seen a beat up person apart from TV so the whole situation felt surreal to me. The one thing I was sure about however was that I for sure wasn’t in the least qualified to deal with his injuries.

“Hey”, Chris said while stopping in front of me and leaning against the door frame, his tone much lower and raspier than usual.

And then there was this other small but significant detail; With his unkempt, messy hair hanging into his face and blood and sweat all over him I couldn’t talk myself out of the obvious anymore. I’d never seen him so undone and out of control, and maybe it was sick to think so, but Chris just looked so fucking _hot_. 

To accompany his weak but still confident greeting Chris tried his usual smirk, but didn’t succeed completely as he quickly had to abort the movement due to the state of his cheekbone. That’s what finally kicked my brain back into action. 

“What the hell happened to you?”, I asked, my voice so exasperated it almost broke towards the end. 

I didn’t wait for an answer but instead rushed towards Chris to support his movements and guide him towards the sofa inside. I made sure to make Chris transfer some of his bodyweight onto me, his arms around my shoulder and my hand around his waist. He was heavy- especially for someone with my stature- but the way to the couch wasn’t far anyway. I was just wondering how he got here alone, public transport wasn’t operating at this hour and like most teenagers he probably didn’t have a car either.

Due to the close proximity between us I could smell the cigarettes and alcohol on Chris’ shirt. This supported my theory about him getting into some kind of drunken fight, even though he seemed pretty sober to me. 

“It’s nothing”, he then finally answered, most of the sound of his voice disappearing in my hair. 

He luckily didn’t seem to be as physically weak as he looked and walked rather well, especially with my help. I managed to make him lay down on the sofa, even though Chris immediately groaned at the movement. He was trying pretty hard to repress it, but I could still hear it clearly. 

Making myself ready to work I placed the glass of water in Chris’ hand and made him drink some of it which was always the first thing I did when trying to help someone sick. Once when we were kids Eva had been down with a fever for a week straight during summer and had always craved more and more water. Not that it made logical sense to transfer that to every kind of illness ever, but for some reason or the other I still did. Furthermore, chances were that he was dehydrated anyways.

“Nice place, suits you”, Chris said nonchalantly between two sips, “Loads of books and blue.”

He was obviously trying to minimise the drama, and needless to say; It didn’t work. I did appreciate the compliment though. I had put my heart and soul into making this place a home since I got the keys. Homework had come short since Monday. 

“Thanks, I just moved in last week”, I said while inspecting the etiquettes on the various painkillers on the coffee table. 

“Oh wow”, Chris said while raising his perfect (?!) eyebrows in surprise, “that’s kinda impressive…”

“Alright”, I interrupted, trying to sound as calm as possible and get back into crisis management mode, “Did you take any pills or drink alcohol? That influences the painkillers I can give you.”

“Alcohol should have worn off…”, Chris thoughtfully said and shook his head. 

I handed him the fitting painkillers (the alcohol safe version just to be on the secure side) which he took eagerly, even though swallowing made him ache. I was pretty sure there was something wrong with his ribs.

“Now’s the part where you tell me everything that happened and where you’re hurt exactly, and also _why the fuck you are here and not in a hospital_ ”, I announced stressfully while beginning to carefully clean him up with in hot water dipped gaze. I had sat down on the floor to better get a hold of his wounds. During the cleaning process I thankfully asserted that the dried blood on parts of his face didn’t seem to be his. Or at least not most of it. 

“I just got cornered by some guys that William and I got into trouble with once, but that’s not relevant.”, Chris started to explain.

I just rolled my eyes while I cleaned the gash on his cheekbone and then disinfected it with the rubbing alcohol. Chris let out  
a small hiss. 

“Not relevant?!” I scoffed under my breath. 

“So then we got into a fight and I was kinda on my own”, Chris continued, ignoring my comment skilfully, “they were three and hit me in the face a couple times, and then one of those fuckers kicked me in my side too. I did get to punch the bastard’s nose before though”, he said with a complacent smirk, “and well, I’m here now because William doesn’t pick up his fucking phone as he’s probably busy hooking up with that blonde friend of yours and my other mates are drunk fucks and presumably still partying. To add to that, I can’t go home either as I’m about 99% sure my mum would straight up murder me if she saw me like this. Wouldn’t want blood to ruin the pretty couch I guess.”

I was-admittedly- a little proud of myself for deducing pretty accurately, but that didn’t make me any less outraged about what I had just learned. This was probably the most personal thing Chris had told me so far, and I could actually understand him so well. Not the part about the fight, but I knew what it felt like to be the trophy piece in a family photo. To just be important because I had the luck of looking pretty in a sundress. 

I paused cleaning the blood of his face for a second and softly squeezed his warm hand before I began to rant. I could feel myself seamlessly slip into protective mode and wasn’t even sorry about it.

“First of all”, I said, “those fucking cowards! One against three, I mean seriously? Well done for breaking that bitch’s nose. Secondly, I’m gonna kick William’s arse on Monday. Then I say your mum’s couch can go fuck itself and last but not least, you’re so damn stupid for taking up a fight against three guys! Like what the fuck is wrong with you, haven’t you heard of running away? You should get arrested for idiocy.” 

I finished my speech with a soft slap on his unharmed chest because it felt fitting. Then I went back to finish disinfecting his wounds. 

“Aww, you’re worrying for me”, Chris reacted in another unsuccessful attempt to humour me, but his smile however seemed entirely genuine. This wasn’t the smirk he used to pick up girls. 

“You show up at my doorstep at 2am with blood all over you, of course I worry, idiot. You can just be glad that my Dad isn’t home. Those would be the kind of questions even you couldn’t get yourself out of.”

Chris had the decency to look remotely remorseful. Throwing the used gaze away after I had successfully cleaned his face I suddenly realised that it would be necessary for Chris to take his shirt of so I could check his ribs. He’d take it in such a wrong way, I already knew it. 

“Okay, so please don’t go all… Chris on me”, I chose to just get on with it, “but I kinda need you to take your shirt off so I can see if one of your ribs is broken.” 

“I already wondered when you’d finally ask to see me naked”, Chris of course used the convenient circumstances, his grin reappearing as well as it could with the whole cheekbone situation. For fuck’s sake, that guy would probably still crack jokes on his deathbed. My urge to hit something- or, more specifically, some guy called Chris- immediately rose significantly.

Thankfully, however, he left it at that and cooperated. We tried to proceed as careful as possible in taking his black shirt off, trying to avoid as much pain as possible. 

Forcing myself to not concentrate on anything other than the very prominent bruise along his left ribcage I examined it, trying to again act very cautiously. This of course required body contact, and I already knew that Chris would never let me forget it.

“Fuck, your hands are cold”, Chris said when I came into contact with his. He probably wasn’t wrong, as his body temperature seemed to be way over the average. I briefly contemplated whether he had a fever. 

Other than being extremely warm Chris’ skin also felt firm, and after further examining of the bruised part unharmed. I almost sighed in relief when I didn’t find a sign of a broken rib. There was literally just a gigantic blue bruise between his 7th and 8th rib which made me believe it was a rather nasty contusion. 

“Like what you see?”, Chris teased now, obviously not being able to refrain from distracting me whenever just about anything was happening. 

The problem here was that I could actually feel myself blushing as I in all honesty kind of liked what I saw. And I wasn’t thinking about that I liked that Chris didn’t have a broken rib. 

I had been right about my quiet assumption of him going to the gym, it was clearly visible. However, not enough to make it look like he actually cared that much about being buff an all that, it just looked effortless. By Hades, Goddammit!

“Yeah, I do actually because there’s nothing broken. Now shut up”, I mumbled as nonchalantly as possible, carefully putting some salve on the bruise. 

Chris had closed his eyes in the meanwhile, the meds had probably started to kick in and made him sleepy. I liked it, as it gave me the opportunity to continue my job without having to fear another witty remark about me staring at him too much. 

Together with Chris’ more superficial wounds his bruised ribcage would probably be healed in a week or so, what actually worried me was the gash on his cheekbone. 

It wasn’t extremely wide or deep I decided after examining it, but only minutes earlier blood had flown from it nevertheless. Upon closer inspection I however realised that a wound like that couldn’t have been created by fists, it must have been something sharp. The gash was way too straight cut to stem from a smashed bottle or one too many punches. It must have been a knife… A switchblade? Holy _shit_ , what kind of people walk around with switchblades on a night out? And how the hell did Chris got into a fight with someone like that? 

“Chris?”, I whispered, my voice full of worry, “did those guys cut you with a blade?”

“Hmm-mm”, Chris just hummed affirmatively with his eyes still closed. He didn’t seem to want to elaborate on the topic.

“I’ll need more than that”, I demanded, this made him opening his eyes again. 

Not that it helped as Chris looked even weaker than ten minutes ago, even though he thankfully seemed more tired than hurting. His eyes were silently pleading for me to not dig deeper.

I usually wouldn’t have, but in regards of his condition I decided to grant Chris’ unspoken request. There would be enough time tomorrow for me to ask questions. His reluctance to answer _did_ however make clear that there was more to the story than just some random bar fight. And that scared me even more. 

That of course didn’t help me to decide what to do exactly with the gash on Chris’ face. Did he need stitches? I was thinking that a doctor would probably deem it necessary, but of course I wasn’t a medic by any means.

“So, regarding your cheek”, I began, “I’m not 100% sure if you need stitches or not, so I thought I’d ask before I ruin your face with this medical thread over here.” 

“Does it close neatly when you pinch it together?”, Chris inquired, not even shocked one bit by potentially getting stitched up by someone who’s only medical experience was being forced to watch Grey’s Anatomy with their friends. This of course further confirmed that this wasn’t his first refusal to go to a hospital. Boys.

“It doesn’t”, I informed him upon trying his suggestion, already sensing that this meant I’d have to sew. 

“Okay, then”, Chris said in a still completely casual tone, confirming my fear, “have you ever stitched up something?”

He was a little less sleepy now, and had in all earnest started to use his arm as an additional pillow. I made a mental note to call him the next time I was freaking out about something and needed someone to calm me down. I was pretty sure I had never seen someone so unfazed in the face of such circumstances. 

“Sure, but only clothes and such things…”, I answered hesitantly. 

“Perfect”, Chris said calmly while smiling at me encouragingly, “then I trust you to not make me look like Frankenstein for all eternity.” 

“It’s Frankenstein’s monster actually”, I corrected him while disinfecting the needle from the medical kit. 

I still couldn’t believe how reckless this guy was, and I was terrified of fucking this up. I really didn’t want to be at fault for ruining his face, after all that would be a shame.

I hadn’t even noticed that I had been blankly staring at the thread and the needle in my hand for a little longer than required when I could feel Chris’ hand-the one with the injured knuckles- touching my cheek. Just for a couple seconds. 

“Hey”, Chris ensured me, “don’t worry, I know you got this.”

In every other situation I would have probably laughed at the cheesiness of this, but right now it was exactly what I needed to hear. I also felt a tiny bit guilty because he was encouraging _me_ right now, even though _he_ was the one about to be sown up by an amateur. 

“I can’t believe you’re making do this”, I muttered through my teeth to announce my first stitch. As a mean to prevent myself from freaking out I had decided to just pretend to sew a perforated pair of jeans back together. 

Chris didn’t even flinch when the metal slid through his upper skin layer and thankfully my hand stayed still as well. The years of applying eyeliner had seemed to excellently prepare me for this, even though it was a very weird sensation. I placed as few stitches as necessary and tried to work as neatly as possible while I - to be honest- felt a little like Meredith Grey. I was however still relieved when it was time to cut the excess thread with some disinfected scissors. My finished work had worked out pretty well, and I was kind of proud of myself. 

“So, am I still pretty?”, Chris inquired curiously albeit still seeming to be fine in case I was going to announce that he’d never be able to leave the house again. Either that or he was a very good liar.

“I think it looks quite neat, actually”, I smiled, pleased with the outcome. 

“Well done, Lil”, Chris said, his half smile appearing again, just letting a tiny glimpse of relief shine through, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome”, I answered, “And I think we’re kind of done in the medical department here by the way. How do you feel? Be honest.”

“Not all that terrible anymore, I guess. Way better than when I was lying in a ditch anyhow. The painkillers are making me dizzy as fuck though.”  
He really did look sleepy, and to add to that so adorable that I really had to keep myself together to not ruffle through his already messy hair. The thought that there was probably some dried blood somewhere helped. 

“Do you think you can move upstairs?”, I asked with a look towards his legs that were partially dangling over the edge of the sofa. That was definitely not how someone in his state of health should be sleeping, and my bedroom was a floor above us. 

“Yeah, I think so”, he answered while repressing a yawn.

“Alright”, I said while finally getting up from the floor I had sat on for like forever, “don’t fall asleep, I’ll get you some clothes and when I come back we’ll get you in a bed, okay?”

“Okay”, Chris mumbled, moving his arm under his head while trying to get into a more comfortable position.

I quickly went to my Dad’s room on the same floor to look for something that would fit Chris. Even though my only competent parent had obviously not moved in yet his closet was already well equipped. So all I had to do was to grab a pair of grey sweatpants and a clean shirt. Dad probably wasn’t even going to miss them in case I wouldn’t have enough time to wash them before he’d come home on Monday.

Walking back down into the living room my gaze immediately wandered back to Chris who had closed his eyes yet again. His breath was more even know, and if there were no bruises all over him he would look peaceful. 

“Chris?”, I whispered while I softly touched his healthy cheek, causing him to almost immediately fluttering his lids open again. 

“Can you change without my help?”, I asked while handing him the clothes I had just gotten for him. 

Thanks god Chris nodded, so I just turned around to give him some privacy while he changed.

“I’m done”, Chris announced just shortly after.

He was wearing the sweatpants now, but to my dismay still no shirt. Was this a joke or something?

“I’m sure you aren’t allergic to cotton and T-Shirts aren’t trying assassinate you either, you know”, I said while helping him to get up. The eye roll came without saying.

“First of all, I usually sleep in underwear, so I think you should be glad I’m actually wearing pants.”, Chris teased with a playful raise of his brows, “And secondly: Why do you mean? Can’t you control yourself when I don’t wear a shirt?”

Check, Mate. He got me there. And the way he had accompanied all that with a wink didn’t help either. 

Determined to not give in I just rolled my eyes as an answer, signalling to follow me towards the stairs. Judging by Chris’ ability to climb the stairs to enter the flat in the first place I had just assumed he’d be able to walk up into my room as well. A look going from the narrow iron balustrade and then towards Chris who was looking like a tired puppy the way he sleepily pushed back his hair didn’t really assure me in that matter. The problem was that I’d prefer him to sleep in my room and not in my Dad’s- which would’ve been the other option- and was where I was planning to sleep. 

“You got those stairs, right?”, I inquired, “I can walk behind you in case you trip or something.” 

To my confusion I got a raspy laugh from Chris.

“Yeah, right, so that I can accidentally kill you with my weight when we both fall down. Don’t worry, I got this, just walk up first.”

I hadn’t really considered the whole accidentally killing me thing, so I just decided to listen to him for once and grabbed Chris’ meds and a glass from the coffee table for him later and made my way up the spiral staircase.

I stopped in about the middle to observe if Chris was doing alright, and to my luck he did so without further problems. Thus I continued walking towards the end of the stairs into my room and quickly went to close my panty drawer as well as to hide some rather embarrassing poetry I had written. 

“So that’s your room”, Chris inquired upon entering shortly after. 

He just looked around curiously while I signalled him to sit down on the bed. Chris just rested there while I filled up the glass I had brought up and put it on the nightstand together with the pills. 

“Am I weird, or does this room fit with the entire… I don’t know… Theme? Of the place. It looks so cohesive, I guess”, Chris finally said while grabbing a pillow for his head. 

It was safe to say I was surprised that he noticed.

“No, no, you’re right”, I said with a genuine smile, “It’s because I have full creative control over this place. I just live with Dad now, and he knows that I love interior design so he just let me do what I wanted.”

“Smart Dad”, Chris commented in the midst of a full blown yawn. At this point the painkillers had definitely won the upper hand.  
The boy in front of me was dizzy as fuck and laying in a cosy bed had definitely made him crave sleep even more. Chris had closed his eyes and was pretty much hugging a pillow. He hadn’t taken the time to spread the sheets over his body, but thinking about the Oslo weather outside I felt like it was a necessary step to tug him in. He looked so innocent, and as vulnerable as I had never seen him before. 

I was just about to leave his side again to go to the bathroom to grab a couple things I’d need for sleeping downstairs when Chris suddenly- and surprisingly- spoke up again. I had assumed he’d managed to fall asleep in these mere minutes.

“Where you goin’”, he mumbled, his eyes still closed. 

“Just to get some stuff”, I whispered, stopping my movements. 

“Okay”, Chris said quietly, basically allowing me to leave. What a weird concept. So I went to the bathroom, leaving the guy in my bed behind. Another confusing concept.

Grabbing my necessities in the bathroom, I slowly realised how tired I had become in the meanwhile. I wasn’t used to this kind of stress and the clock showed that it was 3am in the end. Before walking back to my room I just took out my contacts, washed my face and moisturised. 

“Chris?”, I whispered between a yawn, “in case you wake up during the night, here’s some more painkillers, don’t take more than one. Bathroom’s right next door. alright?”, 

Chris nodded with his eyes still closed.

At this point it felt so fucking hard to not just walk the couple inches towards my bed and fell asleep immediately. I nevertheless persevered and got ready to leave. 

I was already at the door when Chris called- or more; mumbled- after me again. Thinking it was something about his health forced myself to quickly walk back to his side of the bed. 

His only move however was reaching for my hand, but I was too tired to even find the strength to tell him off. He’d opened his eyes halfway and was desperately trying to keep them open.

“Stay here”, Chris ordered, “if I die and you’re in another room you’ll never forgive yourself. And your glasses are cute.”

Chris got more incomprehensible by every word, but his grip on my arm was still surprisingly strong considering his health. Getting myself out of it would have still not been a problem though. But I kind of didn’t want to. Sleeping in my own bed just sounded so good. And who even cared if Chris and I slept in the same bed? It was so wide we wouldn’t even touch, so there would be no damage done anyway. 

“Please?”, Chris tried one more time- or at least that’s what I assumed he meant by what came out of his mouth. He’d lost the fight against his tired lids too.

“Whatever, but don’t you dare stealing my blanked”, I finally gave in, too exhausted to say otherwise. I’d think about the consequences tomorrow.

So I was finally able to lay down, sleep almost immediately overtaking me. I didn’t even obligate when I felt Chris’ hand in my hair but smiled tiredly instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too much fluff?


	7. Sju, Or Where Everything Is Warm and Soft but Isn’t

# Sju

  


**Sunday, 11:13**

When I woke up I felt unfamiliar warmth around me and heard soft breathing next to my ear. To add to that something was wrapped tightly around my waist and there was weight on my ankle. Although my eyes were still shut I could sense that sunlight was flooding the room. I unconsciously moved closer to the heath source, until something in my head finally clicked and I realised why everything felt so unusual. There was _something_ nuzzling on my neck and that something was a nose. I immediately opened my eyes in panic. 

_Holy shit, a half-naked Chris was sleeping in my bed!_

The first thing I saw was the blinding light that came through the window, and the second thing was Chris’ hand on my stomach. My shirt must have slipped up while I was sleeping and some of his fingers were touching skin. Just like last night his touch was warmer than it probably should be and balanced out my usually under average temperature. 

I was still shocked, but I also couldn’t help but to feel weirdly comfortable. Sure, he was the one that showed up on my doorstep at 2am, but in the end I was the one that let him inside my place and- as wrong as it sounded- into my bed. So one: I was as much to blame as he was and two: It was my god given right to steal his body warmth if it pleased me. I guess. At least I was thinking that until the panic returned.

Unknowing what to do now I tried to turn around with as little movement as possible to not accidentally wake Chris up. I wanted to see his face to make sure that this was actually happening. He unconsciously let out a complaint in form of a moan when the tip of his nose lost contact with my neck. 

At least _he_ looked like he was doing fine, luckily his wounds hadn’t acted up with an infection or the like during the night. The stitches on his cheekbone were still very prominent and I put looking up when I was supposed to remove them on my to-do list. But other than that and the blue of the bruises everywhere, Chris expression looked peaceful. His hair was an absolute mess and his mouth was slightly parted. Very adorable. 

Trying to clear my head I decided that it would be for the best to get out of this position as soon as possible, there was way too much Chris around me to think straight. I started with carefully trying to dissolve our still entangled feet and then continue with the rest. 

It was going pretty well until a still asleep Chris decided that letting me go wasn’t a good plan. He just pulled me back towards him and mumbled something inapprehensible. Great, what the fuck was I supposed to do now?

I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to get out of this unless I woke him up, which was something I definitely wasn’t ready for. I couldn’t face Chris awake, not his witty remarks or smiles or teasing. None of it. Because as soon as that would happen this whole thing would become real. 

It would be real that Chris came to me for help when he didn’t have anywhere to go, it would be real that I was worried shit about him and it would be real that he was the first person other than Eva I had consciously woken up next to in my adult life. 

So I just settled in, and tried to not make myself go crazy over everything. Instead I just took the chance to look at Chris without being scared of his teasing voice and focused on that.

Due to his reluctance to let me go, our faces were incredibly close to each other now, his hand now resting on my back. It had been a long time since I had let someone come this close to me, and I still didn’t know why I was allowing _him_ to. 

I usually preferred to keep my shit to myself, there was no reason to make people pity me and my petty rich girl problems. I had no idea why he was even interested in getting to know me in the first place anyway. Or at least I was hoping that was it, and not just the prospect of getting into my pants. 

Chris mumbled something in his sleep again, his lips moving softly. I wish I could understand, but I didn’t, and maybe it was better that way. 

The sunlight shining through the window illuminated the angles on Chris’ face, making the form of his nose appear even more pronounced than usual. I couldn’t wrap my head around _why_ it was such a cute nose, so I slowly started to accept that it was just a given. Someone up there must have really liked Chris’ soul to bless him with such an angelic face. Or something. 

I really liked his hair the way it was now, natural. The water Chris had sprinkled onto his face and hair last night had seemed to dissolve the hair gel he was usually wearing. The fact that he hadn’t showered however was noticeable, and he- in all honesty- still stunk a little bit of alcohol, sweat and cigarettes. 

My thoughts of course didn’t let me rest however, and I continued exploring whatever the hell was going on inside my head. I still couldn’t believe how confusing this whole situation was and I definitely still had no idea how I felt about this either. I barely knew Chris, yet here he was, sleeping on my bed only inches away from me without a shirt on. 

It was surreal, and I had no idea what my general opinion on it was, or what Chris would be thinking about it for that matter. He didn’t seem the type that stayed overnight, but more like the guy that left at 3am when he had enough, disregarding the girl in her sleep. To Chris I was probably only someone to throw away when he wouldn’t have a use for me anymore. I had seen him around school, I had heard what people said about him, _hell_ he had known me two seconds and had already started to flirt with me. 

The obvious question of what I felt for him lingered in the room like an uninvited guest. I couldn’t deny that I was wondering how his lips against mine would feel like, but then again I knew that I wasn’t ready for this kind of thing. And _he_ sure as hell didn’t seem so either. 

I got it though, the urge to walk away and burn bridges behind myself. Running was way easier than staying and deal with one’s shit. I wasn’t better than him in that regard, even though I had made considerable improvements since moving to Oslo permanently. But for now the fear of being abandoned and treated like trash stayed with me for probably a long time. And even now all my instincts screamed for me to run. 

The irony in that wasn’t lost on me though. The urge to walk away and not looking back, while Chris unconsciously prevented just that. 

The thoughts kept circling in my head, growing from the seeds that had been planted years ago. I couldn’t give myself to Chris and get nothing back, just be the one left behind. It had happened before and had only led to me becoming reckless and stupid. I wouldn’t let that happen again. Eva would probably kill me before that anyway, even though not even she knew how bad it had gotten a couple months before I had left London. 

I would never forget that one morning last spring I had sat in a friend’s bathroom crying and waiting for the results of the pregnancy test, surrounded by my own vomit. I had never been so terrified and even over half a year later I hadn’t told a soul. 

There had never been a doubt in my head that nobody would have helped me in case I actually would have been pregnant. Certainly not my stupid one nightstand from school or my mum whose only interest was to keep her skin looking as young as possible. Or my estranged Dad that I hadn’t seen for months since the divorce. I hadn’t known that he was planning for me to move to his native Norway with him.

This change had helped me considerably, being away from my old life and especially my mother. Eva had always been my true family, and suddenly I felt the urge to call her. To make sure she wasn’t still hung up on Jonas behaving like an arse. And to just hear her voice that always sounded like sunshine to me.

Chris suddenly moved, burying his head in my neck again. That boy sure was clingier that expected… The humour in this however  
didn’t change my repeated rise in panic. He moved too much to still be in deep sleep, I had to stop this now. Get away from his warmth and the feeling of his skin against mine. 

I earned some displeased groans when I carefully lifted his arm up and got the hell out of there. Chris’ eyes were fluttering and he was whispering something. 

“Bathroom”, I exclaimed so quickly I probably sounded like a scared mouse and ran towards said room while grabbing my glasses and some clothes. Panic! On the edge of the bed. By all means.

I shut the door as soon as I entered the room, and ran towards the bathroom window to grasp some fresh air to calm me down. _Holy shit why did I always have to behave like such a drama queen!_ What the hell would he think of me now. 

After a couple deep breaths, I finally decided to try and behave like a normal human being again and jumped into the shower. I had tied my hair up as I just really didn’t have to nerve to wash it right now. And through the sniffle test I declared that they sufficed anyway.

The shower definitely helped to make me feel fresh again, washing all the residues from last night- I honestly found some pretty disgusting dried blood on my arm- away from my body. The warm drops from the shower head really calmed me down, and I was pretty sure I spent at least fifteen minutes under the water. This also may or may not be out of fear of seeing Chris. I really didn’t remember that I was such a fucking coward. Finally coming out of the shower I had at least decided on the further proceedings, which were mainly about not overthinking everything, not letting Chris touch me because that was confusing and just generally acting normal. How hard could that be, right?

I still wanted to call Eva to scream for a little while, but sadly my phone was still laying on the nightstand. Instead I got changed into the nightgown I had grabbed and threw my black silk dressing gown over it, a trusty staple piece. I also put my contacts in and used some makeup. I didn’t need Chris to see how tired I was internally, and I definitely didn’t call makeup my battle paint for nothing. 

So all in all I had probably been in the bathroom for like half an hour, but at least I was ready to face Chris now.

The interesting fact was that Chris wasn’t laying in my bed anymore when I opened the door, a little “It’s totally normal to disappear randomly for half an hour, you fool” speech prepared.

Due to my lack of leads I went downstairs on my bare feet, as he obviously wasn’t upstairs anymore. When I was about in the middle of the spiral staircase I got my second clue: The smell of- burnt? – food. I continued walking downstairs, getting more curious by the minute. 

I didn’t have to look far to find Chris as he was just standing in the kitchen, right in my point of view. He looked like he was trying to cook something that vaguely looked like omelettes, His brows furrowed in frustration. 

Chris was still wearing the grey sweatpants from last night, but looked like he too have had a showered, his hair wet, messy and hanging into his face and some water residue still visible on his shoulders. Funnily enough he looked pretty much like a mixture of the sleeping angel I had met this morning and the cheeky and clueless idiot that sat next to me in English. Why did he have to make following my new _Don’t-Touch-Chris-Policy_ so hard, man. 

My steps had been pretty quiet, so he hadn’t noticed me coming down yet and thus felt unwatched, obviously. As of now he was trying to scrap the dubious looking omelette out of the saucepan, but failed miserably at it. I was suspecting that he had forgotten to use butter or oil beforehand. But how was such a mistake even possible? I couldn’t help myself but laugh softly, the sound revealing my presence. 

Chris immediately looked up and our eyes locked. He was visibly aware of being caught red handed, and it was hilarious. 

“Have you never seen anyone making omelettes in your life?”, I asked teasingly.

I was grateful that the situation didn’t feel as awkward as should have been expected. that awkward. Taking the necessary steps towards Chris I grabbed the saucepan out of his hands, checking if I would still be able to save whatever he had tried to throw together. I internally applauded myself when I managed all of this without touching Chris’ bare skin, which actually really helped to fall in my usual behaviour around him again.

“You see”, Chris began, leaning against the kitchen counter behind me, “I was trying to make a “Sorry that I stormed your place last night, slept in your bed, probably made it stink horribly in the process and then used the other shower without asking”- Breakfast. And then I noticed in the middle of cracking eggs that I actually have no clue how cooking works.” 

He was clearly laughing to hide his slight embarrassment while pushing his hair out of his face, even though his voice was as smooth as ever.

“It’s okay”, I accepted his apology while throwing the mess in the pan into the bin and thought about an alternative recipe. 

“Blueberry Pancakes?”, I suggested, while already taking the ingredients out of the fridge. Everyone loved those, and it had for a long time been the only thing my stomach could bear to eat in the morning. It meant comfort for me, and Chris had already nodded gladly anyway. 

I turned up some music- as I always did, and some cute guy in the kitchen would sure as hell not change that- to sweeten my cooking routine, and accompanied the song with my own voice, quietly. Why should today be any different anyway? Sweater Weather was one of my favourite songs, and my alto fit with the singer’s. Some time passed while I concentrated on the music and the pancakes, Chris staying where he was, thinking about god knew what. 

I was already mixing all the ingredients together when Chris spoke up again, sincerity and no playfulness in his tone this time. 

“And I also wanted to apologise for making you uncomfortable earlier. It really wasn’t my intention and I don’t know why but I kinda all clingy in my sleep sometimes. Sorry, I know I’m the worst at apologies. Once, the literally only way to get my little sister’s forgiveness was by walking around in a penguin costume around the zoo, so if you want I could do that again?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his words and of course the prospect of Chris in a penguin costume. I would need to meet his little sister to high five her sometime. His apology was fine though, and I wasn’t even sure if it was needed in the first place anyway. I had used him as a heater all night, so we were probably even. 

“No worries”, I answered while grabbing another saucepan to cook the pancake mix I had just created, “No penguin suits necessary. Could you grab some berries, soy milk and pomegranate juice out of the fridge and cut them though? And bananas! I need my morning smoothie.”

“Yes, Mademoiselle Lily!”, Chris obliged in the worst French accent I had ever heard, obviously glad that things were fine between us. He took what I had asked out of the fridge, even though he wrinkled his nose at the sight of the soymilk. 

“What now?”, he asked curiously when he had put everything on the counter next to me. I showed him where the knives and the blender were and gave him further instructions. It really wasn’t hard, so I was sure Chris could manage. Then again we were talking about the guy that managed to fuck up omelettes…

“You can have coffee too if you want?”, I offered while pouring the first vanilla-blueberry pancake into the new saucepan, the one Chris had used was in the sink to be cleaned up later. I didn’t drink coffee, but Dad did, so there was a fully functioning espresso machine in the kitchen.

Chris face immediately lifted up while he attempted to cut a weirdly formed strawberry but just ended up inspecting it. It was adorable as he clearly had never done this before, but I was honestly surprised how he managed to reach the age of nineteen like that. Probably nannies. 

“I know how to make excellent coffee though”, Chris announced after he finally cut that oddly shaped strawberry and threw it into the blender. 

There was a comfortable silence between us while we were working, just the music filling the room with sounds. It didn’t take long until I was stacking the pancakes on each other, forming neat little towers on two plates. Chris had finished the smoothies as well- I had urged him to at least try it- and was in the middle of making himself coffee. I was surprised that he immediately seemed to know what to do with the obscure machine I touched like once a year. So he didn’t seem to have exaggerated in his brag before. 

“That tastes amazing”, Chris commented, after quickly getting a hold of the leftover pancake mass in the bowl I had discarded in the sink. 

I pushed the two plates onto the other side of the kitchen island, which at the moment served as a makeshift dinner table.  
It didn’t take long till Chris came over too, successfully balancing two smoothie glasses and coffee in his hands. Some cutlery was already prepared from earlier so we both sat down and got ready to dig into the pancakes. Or at least I was, as Chris was eagerly slurping the coffee out of the mug like his life depended on it, cradling the porcelain like a new born.

“Sorry, we don’t have a dinner table yet”, I explained the sitting situation, “and It’ll probably take me like weeks to convince Dad to drive me to Ikea to pick one out.”

“I have a car actually”, Chris said between two bites of his pancakes, “I could drive you if you want? I’m pretty sure the next one isn’t that far from here. Welcome to Scandinavia.”

“Oh yeah, that would be great, thanks”, I said, trying to ignore the voice in my head- that vaguely sounded like Vilde? – that screamed how crazy all this was. I mean Chris Schistad and my likeness were having breakfast together and he had just offered to drive me to Ikea. What the _fuck_. 

“This is probably the healthiest breakfast I had in years by the way”, Chris said, “I usually live off coffee and toast. And I gotta admit, this”, he shook the glass filled with his smoothie, “is a solid distance from as bad as expected.”

“Yeah I try my best, you know, someone needs to be the kid that forces all the others to eat a vegetable from time to time”, I smiled, “so, what’s your little sister’s name?”, I asked, being curious about it since Chris had mentioned her. 

“Arabella”, Chris answered with a bright smile, “but I call her Ari. She’s the cutest little girl anyone has ever seen. She’s ten and probably the only good thing that has come out of my parent’s marriage.”

“Oh, I was already thinking how much better your features would look on a girl”, I sassed, but followed up with sincerity, “but anyhow, you’re not all that bad, so I guess she’s not the _only_ good thing to get coming out of that.”

“I mean I know that everybody loves me, but I do have to say I’m surprised you straight out admit that you agree with that general opinion”, Chris mocked me with a smirk. 

“I’m not the one that pretty much begged to share a bed with me last night, so take it easy, Schistad”, I teased him right back, “but whatever, I guess congrats are in order, you are being appointed the honour of being one of Lily Yael Larsen’s minor friends. Now go and brag to your squad about it.”

Chris laughed, his expression looking both pure and mischievous at the same time. Maybe him coming by wasn’t so bad after all. 

 

**Monday, 14:15**

It was break time, and Eva, Vilde, Noora and I were sitting on the benches outside. Eva was on her phone, I was in thought and Vilde and Noora were talking with each other. My guess was that Eva was texting with Jonas, judging by their exchanging looks through the distance of the schoolyard. Icy on Eva’s side. 

She had told me earlier about her meeting with Isak yesterday to voice her suspicion about Jonas and Ingrid. I had strongly advised against it, and was still contemplating about everything Eva had told me. I for sure thought that it was a dumb idea to talk to Ingrid, which I of course had already told my cousin. Whatever the hell Isak had been thinking, it was some truly dumb advice. 

We hadn’t had the chance to talk for longer yet, and I was bursting to finally have a throughout exchange about everything as soon as possible. To tell her what had happened on my weekend as well as debate her relationship. I seriously needed to suggest that she should finally dump Jonas. Nothing against him- his anti-capitalism speeches were very entertaining- but Eva was a wreck internally because of him and I couldn’t stand watching it anymore. I’m sure I’d find a way to address it as inoffensive as possible. 

To my surprise Eva looked up from her phone now to eye me instead. She seemed to remember something as she furrowed her brows thoughtfully. 

“What were you doing in the bathroom after lunch today?”, Eva said without further ado, quiet enough for the other girls not to hear.

Her tone was soft, yet her expression made sure her internal lie detector- which, regarding to me at least, was excellent- was on alert. Eva used to ask that question often in the past but hadn’t for quite some time, so I was actually a little taken by surprise. 

“Just freshening up my lipstick, promise”, I answered sincerely.

Eva seemed satisfied with the answer, smiled and then looked back to Jonas while I started paying attention to Vilde’s and Noora’s conversation. 

“I'll soon see William again”, Vilde announced currently, “I think we have something going, but the age difference is quite big.”

William was about two years older than Vilde, was that a lot? I didn’t think that it was, especially as guys were immature idiots anyway. The difference was practical to make things more even- or at least attempting to do so. Boys only grew in size, but always stayed twelve at heart. I didn’t trust my mum on much, but this I totally agreed with.

Vilde and Noora continued discussing orgasms and… Sneezing (?) while I started observing Eva who was making interesting faces at Jonas, none of them happy. I’d definitely had to talk to her.

“You can't go around telling people about his dick”, Noora scolded Vilde now, who seemed to be in a state of complete oblivion. 

“Why not?”, she asked. 

“You're asking why you can't tell people about his most vulnerable body part?”

Noora was clearly annoyed now, and thirsty for drama and bored with everything as usual I decided to give their quarrel my full attention. I started eating my left over carrots from lunch and pretended like it was popcorn. 

“Firstly”, Vilde said, very sure of herself, “that body part wasn't _that_ vulnerable. And secondly, he'll surely talk about my body to his friends. Girls should also be able to do that. I support equality and feminism.”

Uh oh. Noora would have something to say about that… 

“But Vilde”, Noora immediately said, just like expected, “firstly, size doesn't have anything to do with orgasms. And secondly, just because guys are fools, doesn't mean we have to be fools as well. It doesn't have anything to do with equality at all.”

“Preach to that”, I added between two bites, “What matters is  
how a guy _uses_ what he has, not how much there is. Most the time anyway. And have you never seen Mean Girls, Vilde? When we call each other sluts and stuff we automatically give the guys permission to do so as well. And honestly, fuck that.”

Noora nodded, and Vilde smiled at the mention of Mean Girls. I made a mental note to organise a movie night soon. 

“So was it good, then?”, Noora asked, “that's the most important part.” 

“It was really good”, Vilde smiled, “but, there's just one thing. There's no one who tells you it practically runs out again.” 

“You didn't use a condom?”, Eva joined the conversation with an exclamation, just as much in disbelief as Noora and I. 

“No, he said he tends not to use one.”, Vilde answered, seemingly unaware why three girls were staring at her with open mouths. 

There I was, stupid enough to have thought that William was a good guy at first. The hell kind of friends did Chris have? First the whole leaving his best friend hanging on 2am and now this? William seriously needed to earn some plus points over here. I should really stop letting embarrassing drunk stories, that promised a long flow of teasing material, influence my opinion on people that told me those positively. Because William obviously didn’t seem to deserve _his_. 

“Vilde!”, Noora exclaimed, the first to break the silence. 

“The hell?”, I added, equally indignant. 

“What the fuck is that?”, Eva interrupted Noora’s and my outrage about William’s idiot tale of not wanting to use condoms, making us turn our attention towards whatever she was looking at. 

It was Sana and Chris, coming through the yard on hoover boards, loads of people staring at them. I personally wasn’t a fan of those things, but I had to admit that the girls looked kinda badass using them. Chris seemed to have the time of her life, while Sana managed to look vaguely threatening- in a graceful way -, even on a bloody hoover board. 

“Where are those from?”, Vilde asked upon Sana’s and Chris’ arrival, seeming confused.

“Sana knows someone”, Chris answered, obviously very proud to have a friend that made such cool things possible.

“It's to fetch the toilet paper”, Sana announced. 

Oh no, so all that toilet paper business again. I had honestly no idea what all off this was about, and I really didn’t care enough to find out either. I exchanged a look with Noora who seemed equally disinterested in all those Russetiden plans. Like come on people, we still had over two years for all that. 

“Yeah, sorry for the interruption and all, but damn your lipsticks looks on point today”, I said randomly, paying Sana a well-deserved compliment. 

Sana’s features lit up while she thanked me, and I noticed that she had dimples for the first time. It gave Sana something adorable, especially compared to the otherwise though image she conveyed wherever she went. The moment didn’t last for long though and the girl was back to business, looking back to Vilde. 

“But I need payment first.”, Vilde insisted.

“That's not how it works.”, Sana explained, sure of herself as always, “He receives payment from his people, and then you can pay your people.” 

“But I don't have _people_.”, Vilde answered. That poor girl really didn’t have a clue. Bless her. 

“Do you think MasterCard operates without people?”, Sana sassed, already making her way towards the school building for classes as soon as she was finished. How did that girl always look so badass in whatever she was doing? I needed her to teach me.

Chris on the other hand was a constant bubble of chillin’, making an adorable twirl on her hoover board and then went to follow Sana to class. 

I was still smiling about Chris’ positive attitude when William passed by suddenly. Vilde had of course immediately written excitement all over her face and smiled up at him. 

William on the other hand just walked by with an unenthusiastic “Hello”, not even slowing down or looking at the girl twice. Idiot. His hair was way too long anyway and looked stupid.

Vilde’s smile immediately lost its brightness, which made me put her down- next to Eva- as my future “Dump your guy”, intervention invitee. I was pretty sure Sana and Noora would join too. I might not know Vilde for long and we didn’t really have a deep bond (yet?), but she was my friend now, and I didn’t like when someone disrespected one of my friends like this. William would pay, I didn’t know how exactly yet, but there may or may not be diarrhoea inducing cookies involved. 

It was another “Halla”, that made me interrupt my proxy revenge plans, and this time it came from Christoffer, one of his friends in tow. He had skipped English this morning, so this was actually the first time I saw him since he left my flat on Saturday, with instructions to take the stitches out on Wednesday. Chris looked pretty well, his bruises had already started to fade a little and his walk was back to normal. And that casual college jacket looked damn good on him, immediately reminding me on my “hands off Chris” vow.

With all those thoughts going through my head in high-speed tempo I tried my utmost best to not let the girls sense anything, especially Eva. It took me about two seconds to register that I had already lost. What could I do, it was hard to pretend that there was no familiarity between us at this point. That guy had slept in my bed for fuck’s sake. And he sure as hell wasn’t trying to hide anything anyway. It felt like we had this little secret going on, and I hated it, because it really wasn’t what everyone else must be thinking! Or I was just overreacting as usual…

In contrast to William, Chris had actually stopped in front of us, and had his typical smile on his face. I couldn’t help but reciprocate it. 

“Hi”, I greeted him back, my friends’ looks on me. This would cost me so much explaining.

“Are you guys coming to the Halloween party on Friday?”, Chris invited us, even though it was crystal clear to everyone that he meant mainly me. It was sweet of him to mention everyone though.

“Yeah, maybe”, I answered vaguely, as I had actually planned to finally pay the Oslo Synagogue a visit. My grandma had called in yesterday to check up on me and ushered me to finally go. And as I haven’t gone yet in all the weeks I was living here, I felt bad anyway. 

“We're coming!”, Vilde shamelessly took over however, already making clear that none of us had a chance to avoid going to the party. There went my plans for Friday…

“Good, We'll talk”, Chris said, making his way to class after one last look at me. 

He wasn’t even gone for thirty seconds before I was already flooded with the girl’s questions and comments. It started with Noora’s “Holy shit what happened to his face? Do you know?” over Vilde’s “Oh my god we can double date!” to Eva chanting “Lily and Chris sitting in a tree…”. May god grant me mercy, cause these girls sure wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more fluff, more humour and some angst! And a late update... again. It's extra long though, and I'll do my best to update till next wednesday, promise!


	8. Åtte, Or Where Persephone gets bitten by a Vampire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do yourself a favour and listen to Friends by Chase Atlantic, you'll know when.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jubbunsDVME

# Åtte

  


 

**Wednesday, 14:30**

In the bathroom we lay our scene, all the girls gathered. Sana was refreshing Chris’ makeup, Vilde was talking about William- again-, Noora was in a bathroom stall, Eva was pensively looking at the mirror and I was on my phone, texting.

I was just reminding Dad to be home on time, as I was planning a spontaneous family dinner with Eva and Aunt Anne-Marit. Dad hadn’t seen his sister and niece in months, and I had an appetite for Penne all’ Arrabbiata all day, so I was really in the mood to bring everyone together. I was so happy that Dad was finally home, but we hadn’t had the time to celebrate yet. 

“I got a glass of water, because he's a guy who only looks- “, Vilde buzzed about William once again, and even though I was only half listening, the water thing worried me a little however.  
I quickly searched my backpack to get Vilde something edible, I was pretty sure there was a bagel somewhere in there. 

“How's it going with the alcohol for the party?”, Chris interrupted Vilde, cutting straight to the chase. 

“I sent William a message if he could get it for us.”, Vilde answered, obviously chuffed that she was in the position to ask a ‘97er about that kind of stuff. 

“Can he?”, Chris inquired, making Sana sush at her for moving and thus ruining the lipstick the latter tried to apply on her friend. 

“He hasn't replied yet”, Vilde admitted, her face losing some of its luminosity, “he's extremely busy. He's in the third year, and he's the bus boss, he has so much to think about. So we haven't talked properly since last time. But we do keep in contact via Snapchat. You know what I did yesterday?”

“No?”, Chris selflessly asked for all of us. 

“I sent William a topless picture”, Vilde continued, beaming.

I had started to spend extra attention on Sana’s face during Vilde’s talks generally, and as expected she didn’t fail me this time either, Sana’s brows raised in an all over quite dramatic facial expression. I agreed with her though, after all we knew William probably wasn’t the right person to entrust nude photos to. 

_“What_ did you do?”, Noora asked disbelieving, coming straight out of the bathroom stall. 

“They're just boobs!”, Vilde naively stood her ground, “William likes confident girls.”

The good news was that I finally found the bagel and handed it to Vilde who didn’t look as delighted as she should be. Dammit, that was a first class bagel with cheese, I had been looking forward to eating it.

“But I just said that William likes skinny girls…”, Vilde insisted.

“Just eat it for fuck’s sake”, I sighed, “It’s absolutely delicious with a quite low calorie value, you look like Twiggy, guy’s opinions about girl’s bodies belong in a bloody bin, and I can literally _see_ that you’re starving, Vilde. Shall I continue?”

The blonde in front of me didn’t have much to say against that, and supported by Noora’s expecting look, Vilde gave in and took a bite. 

“What did he reply?”, Eva asked about Vilde’s statement from earlier now, getting back on topic. I was, admittedly, a little curious about it too.

“He didn't reply directly, but he took a screenshot”, Vilde answered, seemingly unfazed. 

Holy _hell_ , someone had to put an end to this, and like a guardian angel, Sana delivered. She was clearly fed up with this shit too.

“Now listen, Einstein”, Sana stated directly towards Vilde, “William is not interested.” 

“How do you know?”, my clueless Eva asked. 

In the meanwhile, Vilde’s expression had lost a lot of its earlier confidence. She might not want to hear what Sana had to say, but at this point even Vilde couldn’t in all honesty expect William to be head over heels for her anymore. 

“He didn't even reply to a _topless picture_ ”, Sana deadpanned, taking no prisoners. 

“In _The Game_ it says that boys don't reply to make girls more interested”, Vilde insisted, gaining some sass back, even though she was clearly on the losing side here. 

“If I were you, I would put down _The Game_ and start reading _He's Just Not That Into You_ , Sana gave Vilde the last push.

“Why are you always so mean?”, Vilde accused Sana, clearly hurt. Her voice was trembling. It didn’t take long until she left the bathroom, not wanting to be part of this conversation anymore. I understood her, even though I agreed with Sana. Sometimes it was just hard to hear what one didn’t want to hear, and most people had to learn that on the hard way.

The Girl’s reactions were all different. Chris was rolling her eyes- at Vilde? At Sana? –, Noora was furrowing her brows and Sana was sighing exasperatedly, but Eva’s reaction was the only one that actually surprised me. She looked downright indignant, accusingly raising her brows at the girl with the hijab. I understood that Sana’s words had been unnecessarily harsh, but I wondered why my cousin took them so unfavourably. Eva usually saw the truth for what it was, or at least she used to.

“Hello? We are her friends,” Sana broke the silence, insisting on her stance, “If we don't tell her the truth, who will? She's literally sending topless pictures to a guy who is lying to sleep with her!”

“That's just mean! You don't know if he's lying!”, Eva burst out, and _that’s_ when I realised why she was reacting like that. This wasn’t about Vilde’s problems anymore, but about hers and Jonas’.

“He doesn't really seem like the most trustworthy guy”, Noora kind of agreed with Sana, while still staying on the safe side. 

“I mean you can't just claim people are lying without having proof. Sometimes you have to trust people”, Eva insisted. 

“Everyone knows that guys lie”, Sana laid down the facts once more, she really was wise beyond her years. It was weird to think that she was actually the youngest of all of us. 

“And how do you know that?”, Eva desperately kept on desperately trying to prove Sana wrong. But the latter didn’t let her.

“Their stories are inconsistent; they get mad when you ask. But afterwards they get a bad conscience... and they start drowning you in compliments. Believe me, just wait and see. William will break her heart.”

 

**Wednesday, 19:30**

My Dad and aunt were cleaning up the kitchen right now as a thanks that I had cooked with Eva’s help. The night had turned out just as nice as I had planned. But Eva and I had of course still taken the first possible chance to excuse ourselves, so we could finally talk about things. 

We were currently laying on my bed, my back against the headboard and Eva’s head in my lap. I was playing with her beautiful mermaid hair, just like old times. 

Eva was in the middle of talking eagerly about her relationship problems, and she was almost spilling over as she had kept everything in for quite a while. I was just humming in agreement from time to time at this point. First she needed to let everything out, and _then_ I’d start advising. 

“The problem is just that I still love him you know?”, Eva said, “But fuck, that doesn’t change how wrong everything we did was when it started? Our relationship was built on cheating for god’s sake, how could I ever expect everything to turn out alright?”

“Sometimes you can’t change what you’re feeling, even if you wish you could”, I said, trying to help as best as possible, even though we both knew how shit I was at love stuff.

“Yeah, I know”, Eva said, “It’s just that I literally gave up _everything_ to be with him. I mean I know you were always there for me, but in the end I was still alone here in Oslo. I ditched my two best friends for him. You should have seen me, Lil’, I was a wreck. I was losing myself, and it would probably still be like that if you wouldn’t have come and the girls wouldn’t have happened and everything.”

I was once again reminded how glad I was about having moved to Norway. England would always be a home to me, but my family, Eva, had always been _here_. I felt so much but I could say so little, so I just continued petting Eva’s hair in comfort. 

“It felt like I didn’t have my own opinion, because I chose him. And it was a really stupid choice, even though what I feel for him is so real. But I’m just paranoid all the time because I’m chicken scared about there being a possibility of him getting back with Ingrid. Because if he and I did something this terrible to her, why couldn’t he do the same thing to me? And maybe I deserve it, I don’t know.”

Eva sighed, all her feelings laid bare now. She wasn’t crying, but I could feel how tense she was. I held her close. 

It really helped that she finally opened up completely however. For her to finally get everything out of her chest, and for me to fill in the blanks.

“Oh, Eva”, I sighed, “you shouldn’t blame yourself. Yes, what you did was wrong, but you apologised and there’s nothing else you can do about it anymore. And only because you did a mistake it doesn’t mean you could never deserve something like this. And I’m here now to kick Jonas’ ass if he’d ever wrong you. So I’m not his biggest fan right now- yes, I’m still sour about him bailing on dinner last week-, but maybe we shouldn’t judge prematurely just yet. I can see that he cares for you.”

“You think so?”, Eva asked, her face buried in my pyjamas. 

“Yes, I do”, I answered, “but it really doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to see that you guys are doing this thing hella wrong. So, what you guys should do is finally fucking _communicate!_ Tell him exactly what you just told me, and then talk openly.”

I could feel Eva nod on my thigh, her hug around my lower body getting tighter. 

“And if you think it still won’t work then, if you feel like you still can’t trust him, just _dump him_. There are way more important things than letting you be defined by relationships or getting lost in one.” 

 

**Friday, 19:13**

I had just changed into the Grecian gown which was part of my Halloween costume when I heard the ring at the door. As Dad was out with workmates this could only be Sana, and I immediately sprinted downstairs to not let her wait outside. We had just found out that we literally lived ten minutes by foot from each other, and I had promptly invited her to hang out a bit and later take the bus to the party together. Chris had texted me the address, and there was a direct tram from here.

It didn’t take Sana long to walk up the stairs after I had pushed the opening button to let her in. 

“Salam”, Sana greeted me with a smirk, wearing a black Penetrators hoodie and a blonde wig on her hijab. If this was what I thought it was, it was genius. 

“Shalom”, I smiled back, going in for a hug. 

I quickly let her in and closed the door behind her. 

“Wait, are you going as who I think you are going as?”, I asked while guiding her towards the kitchen to offer her something to drink. 

“If you think it’s Vilde, then yes”, Sana answered with one of her rare smiles that lit up the room.

I almost spilled the for Sana intended water because I was laughing so much.

“You’re absolutely brilliant”, I grinned while handing her the water “did anyone ever tell you that?”

“I hear it quite often actually”, Sana smirked while looking around the flat curiously. 

“It’s pretty”, Sana remarked regarding the flat, “lots of flowers and books. Really suits you.”

“Thank you! And there I was already thinking I went overboard with the flowers”, I smiled, “Let’s go upstairs, I’m not quite ready yet.” 

As soon as we reached the upper floor I signalled Sana to get seated on the bed, while I sat down at my dresser to finish the last details on my costume. 

“Let me guess”, Sana said confidently, “a Greek Goddess?”

“Yes, very good”, I laughed, “can you guess which one?”

I was a Greek mythology nerd and loved to dress up, so I had really invested some time on my outfit, even though I knew most people would probably just wear some cat ears and call it a day. I was just about to put on my flower crown when Sana answered my question.

“So according to the flowers I’d say either Demeter or Persephone. Could of course also be Aphrodite, but I don’t think you’re generic enough to do that.”

I was actually pretty impressed at that, and gave Sana a commendatory smile. Instead of fiving her an answer I reached for the straw basket next to the dresser and showed Sana the ingredients: Pomegranates. God I was so extra. 

“Persephone, then”, Sana determined accurately, earning another smile. That girl was so clever, I loved it. 

“But isn’t it brilliant?”, I asked excitedly, looking at the basket, “I’m literally carrying food as part of my costume, there is not even the slight possibility that I will have to raid some Penetrator’s kitchen at some point!” 

Sana just rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but laugh a little when she saw the pure excitement on my face. But what could I say, I took food very seriously nowadays. 

A comfortable silence broke out between us when I added the finishing touches on my eyeliner, music in the background. It felt nice like that, and I felt as optimistic about a party as I haven’t been in a long time. This dress made me feel beautiful, and all my friends would be there. It would still be a Penetrator party however, and this brought my thoughts back to the last- pretty much failed- party us girls had attended as a group. 

“Sana?”, I asked curiously, and the girl looked up, “I was just wondering- you don’t have to answer-, why did you throw water at Ingrid’s face at the last party we’ve been at?” 

Sana looked surprised, but nevertheless answered; “I did it because these girls from the Pepsi Max Bus called Vilde a slut when they saw her with William.”

I had always been pretty sure that Ingrid and Sara’s group had provoked the thing and not Sana, but I was a little surprised that it was because of Vilde. I didn’t think the mismatched pair were this close. 

“Well done”, I congratulated Sana, “these girls really deserved it, they’re so fake, I can’t stand them… You should see how they treat Eva as well.”

“Yeah, they’re the worst”, Sana agreed, “I mean I might not approve of everything Vilde says and does, but you still don't judge your friends, and you stand up for them no matter what.”

“Preach, girl”, I smiled and applied some more lipstick. 

“Now I wanna ask you a question”, Sana said, her tone serious, “What do you feel for Chris?”

Holy hell, I hadn’t seen _that_ coming. I unconsciously stopped my movement and put the lipstick back down. This far I had more or less successfully managed to avoid this question. Not even Eva had asked me that so far, her thoughts too clouded around Jonas. But honestly, that was understandable. 

“Ehh, you see”, I began hesitantly, “It’s complicated.”

“Bad answer”, Sana said with raised brows, “I- and _you_ \- need more than that.”

In comparison to Eva, Noora, myself and everyone surrounding me Sana was a mirror I couldn’t avoid. I always hated jogging in P.E., but right now the urge to run overtook me. 

“I… -possibly, I guess- like him? A little?”, I finally admitted, “but I know that this is probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done- and I’ve done _a lot_ of dumb things, trust me- and if _he_ knew that, this would all probably end pretty badly.”

Interestingly enough Sana smiled at this, revealing some lovely dimples.  
“By Allah, people are so stupid”, she said, “I’m pretty sure he likes you too actually. Can’t you read the signs? I mean I obviously don’t know him well, but I think you do. But anyway- trust me on this- guys don’t treat girls they only wanna hook up with the way he treats you. Chris- as annoying and self-absorbed as he seems to be- is about as far from acting like William does around Vilde as the sun is from this planet.”

“Oh”, I only commented, at loss of words. 

I didn’t get the chance to properly comment on Sana’s observation as the alarm on my phone told us to leave, so we would meet the girls on time. So I just grabbed my pomegranate basket and took the chance to quite literally run away again, even though it for sure only be temporarily before I’d be confronted again. Sana’s word’s however stayed in my mind. 

 

**Friday, 20:47**

The Party was thriving and people packed, just as it was to be expected. The music was loud and surprisingly good, and we had found places on the couch in the middle of the gigantic living room.

As she had announced beforehand, Eva was wearing a Black Swan Costume and looked gorgeous as always. Noora looked adorable in her Twin Peaks Log Lady costume while Chris had hilariously chosen to come dressed as a pad. Or at least that’s what I assumed it was. Vilde laughed and smiled when she noticed that Sana had dressed as her, wearing a cat costume herself, black whiskers painted on her cheeks.

Our mismatched group soon dissolved however when Chris announced that she would go on the hunt for beer. Even after she left there wasn’t enough space for the rest of us to sit however, so I suggested to go dance for a bit. 

Sana and Eva said they’d join us on the dancefloor later, and so I handed the other redhead my pomegranate basket for safekeeping- and especially making her promise to keep people from puking in it- while I dragged Noora and Vilde to dance with me. The two shots I had taken before leaving the house started to set in, and made me feel just the tiniest bit out of control. 

The makeshift dancefloor was literally a couple metres away, so it didn’t take long until I and the two blondes were in the middle of everything. The music really was good, and Vilde turned out to be a great dance partner. It just felt so great to feel loose for once. Noora tried to keep up with us, but it was rather obvious that dancing wasn’t her strong suit. She looked so adorable that she made up for it however. 

I would have lied if I said I wasn’t low-key looking out for a certain guy with brown hair at first. After a while however, I got completely lost in the music, nothing else mattering anymore. The bass was loud and consuming and so much heath was around me, I didn’t bother thinking about anything any longer. A song came up that I loved, and the only thing in my head was moving to it. Everything else slipped away as I closed my eyes. 

_Girl, tell me what you're doing on the other side?  
And so, just tell me what you're doing with that other guy?_

At first I didn’t even notice how some random guy started dancing way too close to me, but of course he did. I opened my eyes, still moving to the sounds around me, and Chris’ eyes met mine, across half a dozen people. 

_Face it, you want it, you crave it  
Believe when I say that you'll know once you taste us_

I didn’t even notice how Vilde’s gaze had followed mine, and the way she seamlessly disappeared, taking a confused Noora by the hand. I kept moving to the song, not yet pushing the random guy who had his hand around my waist away. I could feel Chris’ eyes lighting up like fire, now only metres between us. I felt like I was in trance, with only him sharing my experience. 

_Girl, I'm not with it I'm way too far gone  
I'm not ready, eyes heavy now_

Chris didn’t give a shit about whomever was in the way, the devil may care. His gaze was fixed on me, just like mine was fixed on him. I soaked him in, every single detail I could grab. His black shirt that exposed his collarbones, the red paint resembling blood on his face and neck that complimented the faded bruises he still had from last week. There was black eyeshadow smudged around his eyes and for once there was no smile on his face. I was as attracted to him as ever, and the slight hint of danger surrounding him sent me over the edge. I craved him, and there was no fucking point in denying it anymore. Nevertheless, I kept moving towards the stranger around me. 

_Heart on your sleeve like you've never been loved  
Running in circles, now look what you've done_

Chris was here now, and he was having none of it. He removed the stranger’s hands around my waist in a heartbeat, and replaced them with his own. There was barely an inch between us now, and at exactly this point I lost control. I didn’t care anymore; I couldn’t feel the pain inside me any longer. All I felt was Chris’ heath around me, burning everything else down. 

_And what the hell were we?  
Tell me we weren't just friends_

The air around me got thinner and I could barely breathe. I didn’t know much at this point, but I knew that I needed more than just his hand around my waist. I craved him, and I knew that he felt the same way. This alone made clear that we would never be just friends. His hand made its way to my hair. 

_This doesn't make much sense, no  
But I'm not hurt, I'm tense_

There were so many unspoken words between us, yet somehow neither of us said anything. But another look into his eyes assured me of what we both knew, that when the sun set we were both the same, half in the shadows and half burned in flames. So we let it explode. And I let go and gave in. 

_Give you my word as you take it and run  
Wish you'd let me stay, I'm ready now_

Chris’ lips crashed onto mine, eyes dark and mouth hungry. Not even an inch was separating us anymore. He felt so good against me I could hardly breathe. We didn’t even start slow, and I put all the want and need that had accumulated over time into this kiss that deepened quickly. It was almost like we were fighting with each other, each of us trying to gain the upper hand. His grip in my hair tightened, and I let out a moan when he bit my lip, causing Chris to grin into the kiss. I had never been on narcotics before, but I was pretty sure that’s what it felt like to be that high. 

_I'm not ready, eyes heavy now  
Wish you'd let me stay, I'm ready now_

I wouldn’t have been surprised if Chris had just thrown me over his shoulder to carry me to a bedroom- not that I would’ve minded at the state of mind I was in right now- but instead he just kissed me hard one last time and then let go. I didn’t even get the chance to furiously grab after him when he was already dragging me out of the public eye by the hand.

The song had ended, and so did my complete intoxication by Chris’ presence. But fuck, it clearly wasn’t only my unconscious that wanted Chris, clearly illustrated by my inability to stop staring at his ass while he pushed himself- and me as a consequence- through the crowd. 

My brain unsuccessfully tried to hammer logical thoughts into me, but all I wanted was Chris grip back in my hair and his lips on mine, the rest was irrelevant. 

I wasn’t noticing all that much at the moment, so I was taken by surprise how quickly Chris had managed to find an empty bedroom. Not that I minded. In the slightest.

I let go of Chris’ hand that was still holding mine to lock the door behind us. His hair looked dishevelled as fuck and I looked up to give him a smirk. Chris smiled back wickedly, which instantly urged me to straight up jump on him. 

The laughter he let out when he caught me was music in my ears. My arms were around his neck when our lips met again. 

Every movement felt slower than before, his touch on my bare legs continuously sliding down so Chris could lay me down on the bed. Our mouths were still connected, and Chris hand slowly wandered over my collarbone to my shoulder, making the strap of my dress slip down so he had full access to my neck. His hand was wandering above my waist. 

In the meanwhile, I had started to pull on his shirt, commanding him to take it off and thus making us loose contact for a couple seconds. I wanted to scream when Chris paused to look at me and lick his lips before he finally took his shirt off. 

There was nothing I had not seen before, but it was still different, as this time there was nothing holding me back. His chest felt firm and full of heath under my hands, and I let my hands wander, feeling every single movement Chris made on top of me. 

Instead of coming back to my lips, Chris’ mouth was kissing my neck, trailing further down, in sync with his ever sliding hands.  
The hem of my dress had risen up significantly, and a breathless gasp came out of my mouth when Chris suddenly touched my bare inner tight while his mouth continued to slide down. 

And then an utterly unexpected thing happened: Chris’ phone rang and with it I came back to my senses. 

Chris’ touch on my skin stopped only seconds after he heard the sound, a curse on his lips. He didn’t even look at me while fiddling in his pocket to get his phone, making us loose contact in the process. He quickly got up and grabbed his shirt from the floor. 

“Sorry, I really gotta take this”, he muttered absently, starring on his phone’s screen before picking up the call, “don’t move.”

And with this Chris was already out of the door, while I was still laying on the bed, my eyes widening. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck”, I cursed to myself, my hands over my eyes, trying to figure out what to do.

What had just happened? Was I fucking _stupid?_ I had literally just made out with Chris Schistad, a thing I had promised myself to never do. Didn’t I know the risk? 

He was going to leave me here alone, wasn’t he? The way I had always been afraid he would, after I had finally given him what he wanted? Just like everyone else did.

He hadn’t even bothered to tell me what happened that he thought was so important to leave, after all. 

At this moment I didn’t think straight, and all my head was filled with was the feeling of abandonment I had experienced so many times before. My skin was cold, and so I instinctively dragged the skirt of my dress back down to cover my legs.

Two seconds later I was already out of the door. I didn’t look right, and I didn’t look left while I sprinted down the hallway, praying I wouldn’t run into him. I didn’t know why I felt all this shame again, or why there was nothing but panic in my heart, but I knew that I needed to get out of here and find Eva. What had I done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I know I'm the worst ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	9. Ni, Or Where "the No Feelings Diet" Stops Working

# Ni  


**Monday, 13:40**

Vilde, Eva, Noora and I were sitting on the window seat in one of the hallways. Chris and Sana had left early, as they had a lesson of lunch break less than the rest of us.

Vilde was once again talking about William- completely ignoring the fact that she had seen him making out with Sara at last Friday’s party-, and a freshly single Eva was trying to be a good friend and listened attentively. 

The weekend truly had been tumultuous… After Eva had nursed me back to health (at least mentally speaking) all weekend, she had left me alone for a couple hours on Sunday to finally have a heart to heart with Jonas. Of course not without instructing my Dad to check on me from time to time to see if I was still alive, which he had followed awkwardly. 

Apparently, Eva’s suspicions about Jonas actually had valid ground, even though neither of us had guessed the correct reason for his weird behaviour. He had been smoking weed behind Eva’s back for weeks, and that lack of trust had been the last drop that had made their ship sink. Eva had also texted Ingrid, ultimately explaining herself for one last time. Surprisingly, the girl had answered quite friendly when she heard the news, and we assumed that all the drama was buried at last. 

The sad irony in all this however, was that now there were two redheads with broken hearts in the hallway, even though I would of course never admit that to myself anyway. 

There were a couple unanswered texts from Chris on my phone, but I hadn’t even bothered to look at them before I pressed delete. In my experience a clean cut was the easiest for all the parties involved. Neither he nor I seemed to be ready for something serious, and I couldn’t stomach something casual with him, so the whole _Chrislily_ thing- as Eva had jokingly called it- was ultimately off the table. 

I mean for fuck’s sake; I had literally stormed out of a party because I couldn’t handle the thought of Chris leaving me like he had with every other girl! Or had it been because I was scared he’d stay? It was pathetic either way, and I sure as hell wasn’t able to control my emotions around him, so what was the point anyway? It was needless to say that I had skipped English lessons earlier. 

On a positive note however, I was hopeful that Eva wouldn’t problems recovering from her failed relationship. Even now her whole being seemed to be lighter, all the excess weight from the last couple months and weeks shed. She was free to be completely herself again. 

Oh how I loved that girl, she really deserved the world. 

Noora, who sat opposite me, loudly nibbled on a carrot, and I suddenly noticed how discontent her expression had looked since Vilde had started talking about William as soon as Sana had left.  
“Imagine how perfect it would be if I was together with William, and you were with Chris”, Vilde now suddenly and unexpectedly said in my direction, and not gonna lie, it hurt like a bitch. 

I hadn’t shared any details with Vilde, so I guess I couldn’t really blame her. This however didn’t stop Eva from letting out a warning in form of a low grown in Vilde’s direction. And Noora’s discontentment from earlier sky rocketed. 

“Vilde, seriously?!”, Noora finally snapped, raising her brows exasperatedly. 

“It was just a suggestion...”, Vilde immediately trailed back, obviously surprised by all the backlash her comment had gotten. She defensively tugged at the seam of her hoodie. 

Noora’s displeasure however didn’t just seem to stem from Vilde’s unintentional affront towards my feelings, but the continued glorification of William, which was how we all felt anyway. It was time that someone other than Sana spoke up about it, that Penetrator Hoodie had to go. 

“You can't walk around in that sweater thinking you'll be with William. Come here”, Noora instructed Vilde, pointing her finger towards figures in the yard, “You see that girl over there? She has slept with William. See her over there? She has also slept with William. There comes another one”, Noora continued to point mercilessly, “There, and up there.”

Holy shit, I had never noticed how many of them there actually were. At this scale- considering the size of the school- this could probably be called a phenomenon. This was sick! And especially William seemed to be the problem. It didn’t matter what had happened between Chris and me, I was still salty about the fact that William had let his best friend high and dry that one night Chris had to come to me- out of all people- for help.

“You can't know that all those girls slept with William!”, Vilde desperately tried to defend whatever that guy meant to her, “There's a lot of guys on their bus.”

“Vilde, it's marked on the sweater. The one you've slept with is marked in red”, Noora continued, not taking prisoners, “You're walking around like some living trophy now. You have to forget William! Give him back the sweater, and take back your integrity!”

I couldn’t help but wonder about how many girls in the school were walking around in a sweater with _Chris_ in red letters marked on their back. It hurt a little bit, but I managed to mainly steer my feelings towards disgust. These Penetrators were a bunch of pitiful pricks that felt like they owned the fucking world. 

“He's the loser, not you”, Eva agreed with Noora, causing the blonde and also me to nod.

“Trust me, he’s a pathetic little brat, just like the rest of his friends”, I finished our pep talk. 

With each word I was able to see a little bit more of pure insecurity in Vilde’s face, and I think each of us were able to see ourselves in her at this moment. The world was a cruel, cruel place for people with vulnerable hearts. 

“I know you should think that if a guy doesn't like you it's not you there's something wrong with. It's him”, Vilde said quietly, looking on the ground, “But how do you think like that? I keep thinking it's me that there's something wrong with.” 

Enough words had been spoken, and the only thing left to do was to show Vilde our unconditioned support, bared to her in a comparatively weak group hug. But I knew that Vilde would persevere, because under all her bubbly exterior she was strong, even though she didn’t even seem to know that herself yet.

 

**Tuesday, 13:20**

It was another day, with another lunch break, and this time we were almost complete. All of us six girls but Vilde, who had gone to the toilets inside five minutes ago, were sitting outside on the benches, most of our food already stomached. For already being November it was a warm and sunny day, but we were all still wearing rather thick jackets. There was a heated debate about shoes going on, and I was listening amusedly. 

“You can't buy pink Uggs! Uggs in general”, Noora insisted, a look of pure inductance on her face. I got her though, those shoes were truly ugly… 

“Why not?”, Chris asked, visibly confused about the passion in Noora’s voice. 

“They're super comfortable, though”, Eva pitched in.

“But they look insanely ugly.”, Noora insisted, and with that the discussion already came to a premature end when Vilde came back, an unusual look of determination on her face. And it didn’t seem to stem from a disgust of Ugg Boots. 

She held the black Penetrator hoodie that William had given her in her hands, and as soon as Vilde reached the table she slammed it on the wooden surface we had eaten lunch on. 

“I’ve decided on what I'm going to say to William”, Vilde said confidently, obviously proud for her assertiveness. I smiled. 

“Pardon?”, Noora asked, for a second not understanding what was going on. 

“What are you talking about?”, Sana asked confusedly. 

“My integrity”, Vilde stated full of her new won pride. 

“You don't have any”, Sana dismissed, “Next subject.”

Ouch, that was kind of rude. Also kind of funny, but I bit my tongue. Vilde needed to see support right now. 

“What are you gonna say?”, Noora brought us back to the subject.

“I will say that I won’t be treated like this”, Vilde announced, obviously having spent quite some thought on this. 

“Huh?”, Sana asked, still not seeming to understand what was going on. After all her and Chris hadn’t been there at our talk yesterday. 

“And then, I'll return the sweater”, Vilde ended, ignoring the interruption. 

“You can't do that”, Sana said, now that she grasped what was happening, and she was quite obviously not fine with it. I wondered why. 

“Why not?”, Vilde asked confusedly. 

“We're finally _in_ with the Penetrator guys! Lily already stopped talking to Chris- no offense Lil’-, but now you're going to fuck everything up completely?”, Sana stated, looking as if she were talking to a ten-year-old.

Oh, so that was what this was about. I had completely forgotten Sana’s plan to make us popular, but I honestly didn’t really give a shit about it. It had worked rather well however… Yesterday there had literally been a couple of girls from our year whispering about the Penetrators in the cafeteria who had respectfully let Noora and me skip the line. _That_ had been bloody weird.  
“Says you, who almost ruined things for all of us the first time we were invited to a party!”, Vilde shot back defensively, and I couldn’t help but exhale sharply, considering I knew what exactly had happened that night. This whole situation was a fucking train wreck and I wanted out. 

“Sana, it's good that Vilde is going to explain to William that she will not be treated like crap!”, Noora took Vilde’s side, obviously not trying to be neutral this time. 

“She can't tell him!”, Sana insisted, “It won't work anyway. It's better to be completely cool.”

She did have a point there- chances were that William would just laugh about her or something- but I saw how important this was for Vilde’s personal growth, so I just joined Eva and Chris in their silence and let Noora talk. 

“It's possible to be cool and speak up”, was Noora’s last plea, before Vilde’s eyes widened and we all turned around to see what had grabbed her attention. 

It was, of course, William Magnusson himself. He was walking with some fellow Penetrators, and I counted myself lucky to not find Chris in attendance. That would make things easier. 

“There he is”, Vilde acknowledged, eyes wide. 

“You're going to say it now?!”, Noora asked, obviously considering how it would be best to not go after William _that_ publicly. 

“Yes”, Vilde confirmed confidently however. I was pretty sure she wanted to get her words out of her chest as soon as possible, afraid to later loose her determination. 

“He's with his friends”, Noora tried again, but we all knew that wouldn’t prevent what was about to happen. 

“I don't give a shit who he's with!”, Vilde said, already starting to walk in William’s direction, Hoodie in hand. We all quickly got our things to follow her for support. There was a reason why it was said that there was power in numbers. 

I shared a smile with Eva and Noora while we were walking. We all felt so proud of Vilde for stepping up, it sure was no easy thing to do. 

“Hi”, Vilde said quite coldly while she stepped directly in front of William, making him stop in his tracks, his two friends halting with him, exchanging confused looks.

“Hi?”, William greeted back, clearly disinterested. Out of reflex he grabbed the hoodie that Vilde pushed into his hands, but he was obviously completely unaware of what was about to happen. 

“If you thought I would walk around like some living trophy, you're terribly wrong”, Vilde got started, confused that she didn’t immediately got her desired reaction, “Don't play dumb, you know what I mean!” 

And then William did the greatest dick move in the remembrance of Hartvig Nissen: “What's your name again?” 

“Vilde”, the platinum blonde in front of him answered, getting more insecure by the minute. That was not what she had expected, and it wasn’t doing her already damaged ego any favours. 

“Okay, Vilde”, William said, his voice making crystal clear that he didn’t give a fuck about her name, “Take a deep breath”, he instructed a puzzled Vilde, and took an instructional breath, which she repeated out of confusion. 

“I think there's a small miscommunication here”, William continued, his face showing no emotion whatsoever, “I'm sure it's my fault. If you think I look at you like some trophy, you're wrong. Because you're not good enough.” 

Ohhhhh, No. Fuck this and fuck him. I didn’t see Vilde’s face, as I was quite literally having her back between Eva and Noora, but I could sure as fuck imagine her expression. 

Interestingly, my initial response to conflict situations concerning people I cared about was physical aggression, quite contrary to my urge to run when reacting to upsetting condition myself. I didn’t know why exactly, but my blood for sure felt like it was literally boiling right now. I fondly remembered when I threw my drink at Ingrid’s face when she called my precious Eva a slut. 

I internally counted to ten in hopes of calming down, but it only helped slightly. It took all I had in me to stop thinking about the few Krav Maga lessons organised by my Synagogue back in London that I had taken. Not that I had been any good at it… 

So no one said anything while Vilde’s shoulders fell, and a couple seconds later she was already out of the picture, leaving all of us standing there awkwardly in the school yard. 

I was already about to spit into that asshole’s face or kick him in the shin or something- fuck, I was angry- when Noora jumped in, quite literally filling Vilde’s place in the half- circle us girls had formed earlier. 

“What an awesome guy you are!”, Noora spoke up, chin up and biting sarcasm in her voice. She was fed-up, and if we were in some cheesy American movie I would have started chanting her name like a cheerleader. I exchanged a look with Eva. This was going to be good. 

“Who are you?”, William asked, obviously taken by surprise. He had obviously neither encountered Noora nor her fearless presence before. There was however slight interest in his eyes, or at least more than he had shown Vilde earlier. 

“What happened that made you have such an inferiority complex that you have to piss on the feelings of a first year girl to feel cool?”, Noora fired her first bomb, condescendingly talking to William as if her were worth less than an ounce of shit. This he probably was, because let’s be real, this was the guy that had rather fucked someone whose name he didn’t remember than to help his beaten up best friend. Chris should be damned to always come up in my bloody mind at the dumbest of times. 

“Were you never validated as a child?”, Noora continued, her voice making me so proud to count her as one of my best friends, “Or did Mommy never compliment your drawings? Or did Daddy never come to any of your graduations?”, she was literally having fun, destroying William like that, but the problem was that he didn’t actually seem hurt, but legitimately had to bite his lip to suppress a smile for whatever reason, “You didn't have hair on your dick in 7th grade and you were bullied for it? Anyway, you have to seriously get over it and start behaving like a human. Stop walking around like a fucking cliché.”

And then Noora was done, leaving everyone around us speechless. She held her chin high one last time and then pushed William out of the way, leaving the same way Vilde had gone out of the picture. 

William was still wonderingly looking after Noora, so I snapped my fingers in front of his face without further ado to bring back his attention. I put on my brightest smile.

I knew it wasn’t right to fight fire with fire, but William was a selfish, ignorant bully, and I was done with his shit. No one treated my friends like that. And to add to that I had had a tough week. And so I let it come all out, and bitch slapped the crap out of William as soon as he turned his head towards me.

“ _That_ was for leaving Chris bleeding in a ditch”, I hissed into his perplexed face, low enough to make sure no one could hear us. I didn’t even know why his name had come into my mind of people I had to avenge the first, but it didn’t really matter now anyway. 

I didn’t give William the chance to think before I stroke out even harder, this time with my fist aiming towards his nose.

“And _this_ ”, I said loudly while smiling sweetly into his stupid face, “was for Vilde, you little piece of shit.”

William’s eyes widened, and shortly after he started to growl in pain. Sana had already signalled for everyone to leave again, and the girls and I made our way out of there, on my part almost running in hope of not falling victim to William’s retribution.

I was very sure I had neither dislocated his jaw nor broken his nose, but I knew he would at least be forced to think about his actions while crying like a baby because he’d get at least a bruise. So my job here was done, and I couldn’t help but smirk a little. 

 

**Thursday, 8:03**

The day I had been dreading for almost a week had ultimately arrived: English lesson, with a probably (?) smirking Chris sitting next to me. And then there would also be William, who was probably planning to kill me as I had quite literally punched his nose. Ahh, good times.

I was sitting on my seat- utterly terrified- and the bell was about to ring, but Chris hadn’t even slipped into the classroom yet. For a second there I hoped he wouldn’t show, but of course my dreams were crushed with his arrival a couple seconds before the lesson was about to start. 

And of fucking course our eyes immediately met, forcing me to show fake interest in my fingernails. Not to be dramatic, but seeing him again was already enough to contemplate jumping out of the window then and there. The problem was that I wanted to glide my fingers through his hair at the same time, so that was great…

I hadn’t seen Chris for almost a week, and all his bruises from the incident two weeks ago had seemed to completely fade away. It was raining outside, and his hair was still slightly wet. He looked kind of strained, but just as good as always. 

There was a tiny little part inside of me that hoped and worried that Chris looked a bit stressed because he had been thinking about me and all that weird shit (The thirty-minute shower! The running away from him after we had made out like horny teenagers! The punching his best friend thing!) I involuntarily pulled on him. 

The rational Lily inside my head however quickly waved this aside and reminded me that he probably didn’t give two shits about me. That he was worried about his sick cat. Or whatever. 

I could feel Chris’ gaze on my skin as soon as he sat down next to me, but I tried to concentrate on the back of my Romeo and Juliet copy.

He greeted me with a low “Halla” as the lesson had already begun, and I just answered with a weird mixture of “hmm-mm” and a nod. Seriously, what was wrong with me. 

“I seriously hope you have all finished the play as instructed”, Mr Jacobsen began his lesson, “you guys know that it’s a crucial part of your final exams. So today I would like to discuss themes, symbols and plot points for now, and then we’ll come to your questions.”

So he began teaching the double-lesson, and I swear, I had never taken such meticulous notes before, even though I already knew about ninety percent of the stuff that we were being taught.

I still couldn’t truly concentrate however, and I could feel Chris’ closeness next to me, which made everything considerably worse. So I kept ignoring the usual comments the guy next to me always made, acting like nothing was wrong at all. He sure didn’t get my vibes fitting of our current non-speaking terms. 

At least the first lesson went rather quickly while jumping through all the literary features and the like of Shakespeare’s play. It didn’t take us long until we reached the time for the questions. Mr Jacobsen encouraged us to take part in the open discussion, so we were allowed to voice our thoughts and opinions about the play. 

I really liked that kind of teaching, but I didn’t really have any questions, so I just listened. To my surprise quite a lot of people had thoughts and the whole thing quickly went out of hand. It was a chaos, albeit a manageable one. 

“Yeah, but”, Julian, one of Chris’ fellow Penetrators, used the –very- brief silence, “can someone please explain why the hell Romeo would literally die for the so-called love of his life Juliet after he already got in her pants? The dude already showed that he can move on from chicks- looking at the Rosalie girl from the beginning!” 

This prompted laughter from some of the guys in class, and even I couldn’t help but smile a little, even though I made sure to also roll my eyes to his statement. It may or not be obvious that most of Julian’s English knowledge stemmed from rap videos, which made listening all the more enjoyable. In short: Julian was fun- and in the academic sense a little bit stupid-, and almost everyone in the class loved his comments as much as Chris’. They were always entertaining. 

“Because they’re in love, you prick”, my kind of friend Aline shouted into the mess that had broken out after Julian’s statement.

And then something unexpected happened; A loud whistle interrupted the mayhem, coming from no one else but the King of Chaos Christoffer Schistad himself. I got shocked there for a moment because the whistle was so loud. 

“Listen up, fives, a ten is speaking!”, he announced with his usual confidence and typical melodic Norwegian accent when speaking English, “Because Romeo isn’t a fucking idiot, dude. So what, he may or may not have fooled around with his fair share of girls”, a couple people furrowed their brows at this inaccuracy, including me, “but that doesn’t mean he can’t see it when the right one comes around the corner with way much more stubbornness than anyone could handle, really. And people do seriously dumb things when they like someone. The only point is that the other person doesn’t act like she doesn’t care and accepts an apology… Or kills herself with a dagger in the heart when called on it, whatever.” 

Oh. _Oh_. Was he… No. That made no sense, he didn’t really have anything to apologise for. I had. 

If Chris wanted to pass his exams however, he would really have to reread Romeo and Juliet, because his current knowledge would clearly mark him as insufficient. 

A look on the clock told me that it was going to ring in two minutes, and my things were already packed to enable me to run the minute it would ring. Chris was no guy to pass on confrontation, and I certainly wasn’t going to give him a platform. I didn’t want to fight right now, all I wanted was to go home and cry about Chris’ hair. No wait, scratch that. 

_Three, two, one_ … I counted internally, and as soon as I heard the bell I headed towards the exit, just as planned. I carefully tried to not look like I was being chased by a Deatheater while still remaining at a certain speed. Turns out, finding a balance was kind of hard. 

The other problem was that Chris knew exactly what I had planned, and had gotten up approximately 2 seconds after me. I could even hear him calling my name after me. _Lily_ this time, not Juliet, Red, or whatever nickname he had given me over the past months. 

Chris didn’t even give a shit about the people in the hallway that he pushed out of his way, and I acted like I didn’t hear him calling after me. I truly didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just leave me alone. 

“Can’t you wait for a fucking second?”, Chris asked with a raised brow after he ultimately caught up with me, literally jogging backwards so he could see my face. Well, fuck. 

“I got things to do, Schistad, so just leave me alone”, I simply answered, not looking into his face. I was praying for him to just do what I said, but of course he didn’t.

I wasn’t exactly the strongest on my feet right now, and all Chris had to do to make me stop was grabbing my arm. I didn’t even have the time to properly protest or push him away from me when he had already opened an empty class room and dragged me inside. He immediately let go of me as soon as we were in privet. That however didn’t mean that he was just going to let me leave said room.

Fuck this really wasn’t how I had planned this day to take course. Because being close to Chris was exactly what caused the problems, so this situation was very, _very_ far from being helpful.

Chris still looked kind of stressed, but nevertheless persistent in his position in front of the door in order to prevent me from fleeing. He wasn’t even wearing his Penetrator hoodie today, but a blue sweater instead, and I hated how good he looked in it. Due to the rain outside his hair messily hung into his face. 

I didn’t know what to do out of all this, so I intuitively took a couple steps back until I almost walked into one of the benches. I did manage to pull it off as though I was just casually leaning against. Or at least I thought I did…

Not that it mattered anyway, because about 73 percent of my brain capacity was used by upcoming internal claustrophobia- the other 27 percent were part longing for food and part admiration for Chris’ hair-, because I felt fucking trapped here. Literally every vein in my body screamed at me to run. My legs had started to shake, even though it was barely visible. 

“So…”, Chris started, still leaning at the door, “I see you kept your promise from two weeks ago and slapped William because of me?”

He obviously unsuccessfully tried to take the tenseness out of the room, an adorable smile on his face. I was actually close to letting a tiny smile come through, but my crippling anxiety quickly made that urge an end.

“Eh, that was just generally… Because he sucks, and it’s not like he didn’t deserve it anyway.”

“You know, William isn’t a bad guy, even though he behaves like a huge dick sometimes. He’s just trying his best with what he’s been given.”, Chris said, his smile no longer lighting up the room. 

“That doesn’t give him the right to call one of my friends worthless in front of the whole school”, I said, still avoiding eye contact at all cost, “Can I go now?”

I didn’t really expect Chris to let me through the door, and of course he didn’t. All he did was stare at me from across the room, torturous electricity in the air. 

“Alright so would you please tell me what the fuck is going on?”, Chris finally asked straight up, “is it because I picked up the phone? I swear it was my sister, and I was worried about her. Didn’t I tell you? She actually just called because she wanted to know when I’d be home, but whatever… So, back to the point, did I pressure you into something? Did I do something wrong? Because, fuck, it isn’t normal to just disappear out of nowhere and then go on radio silence for a week!”

He had talked with his hands, the words just falling out of his mouth. Chris tried to look into my eyes, and I could see that he had to control himself to not walk towards me, to give me space. 

I could feel how the first cracks starting to appear on my wall. I didn’t take that kind of confrontation well, and even though I would never admit it, I was easily upset, and with that followed tears. No matter how hard I tried to hold them back. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong”, I answered weakly, all I wanted was to disappear. I didn’t find a better answer, and so Chris just continued rambling. 

“Well, I’m sorry, okay?”, He said nevertheless, his hand quickly pushing his hair back, “but you can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, because guess what? It did. And this is making me fucking crazy. Just talk to me, please.”

I had never heard such urgency in Chris’ voice, and it honestly surprised me. That he seemed to _care_ why I wasn’t talking to him, even if it was just a little bit. 

But all I could do was senseless nodding while continuing to look at the floor. I knew exactly that I couldn’t speak, because if I would, there would be tears and yelling. And I didn’t want Chris to see that. I wasn’t as strong as I lead people to believe, and now I felt like it came to haunt me. I hated it, I _hated_ to feel weak. 

In normal circumstances I would have found a way to the exit, but this time I couldn’t. Chris was quite literally not letting me. Someone who wouldn’t let me avoid him. 

“Well, yell, scream, say something. Anything. Please.”, Chris attempted one last time. I couldn’t help but lift my eyes, just this once, and what I saw just made me feel a million times worse. There was so much confusion and pain in Chris’ usually so warm eyes, and I couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Listen, I just can’t fucking do this”, it ultimately burst out of me, “You don’t actually _know_ me and you will never even begin to understand how fucked up I am inside, doesn’t matter if you can’t see it. You don’t want to know anyway, and neither do I.”

As expected the tears didn’t stay where I wanted them to and ran down my cheeks. I I didn’t know why I couldn’t just stop talking and instead push Chris away from the door where he was still standing. But something inside of me just wanted me to keep going, my voice sounding more desperate by the second, my hands gesturing. 

“Because you _won’t_ be there when there’s vomit on the floor because the mirror told me I might finally disappear if I were just to swallow up fucking salad again. You _won’t_ be there to ensure me that everything’s gonna be okay when my mother tells me for the two hundredth time how fucking worthless I am to her and everyone around us because I don’t act and don’t look like she wants me too. You _won’t_ be there to stop making me feel so bloody alone when I can feel that the crowd only tolerates me because my nose is small enough and they don’t notice the star around my neck that marks me as _the other_. So pardon me, but the fucking last thing I need right now is someone who just wants to use me for a couple weeks and then let me fall, like every girl else before me. So _please_ just do us both a favour and fuck off now. I don’t want you in my life and I sure as hell don’t belong in yours.”

I didn’t look into Chris face when I suddenly stormed up to him and tried to push him away from the door so I could finally leave. But Chris didn’t move one bit. 

I never wanted to hurt him, but beneath the tears that clouded my view and my misery all I could do was hammering against his chest, hoping he would finally let me go. I kept hitting him desperately, but Chris didn’t move an inch. 

Instead he just reacted in an utmost unexpected way and wrapped his arms around me, pressing me closely against him, until my movements got slower and slower, ultimately resting on his chest, motionless.

And I let him, I let him, I let him. 

I capitulated bit by bit, first moving my hands from laying flat on his torso to placing them around his waist, then burying my head almost completely in his chest. One of his arms steadied me around my waist, the other was around my shoulders. 

“I’m so sorry”, Chris whispered quietly into my hair after a while of just standing there, “I didn’t know.”

I didn’t know what to answer, so I just hugged him tighter. 

“I will probably never fully understand how you feel, and I’m aware of that. But that sure as hell won’t keep me from trying. I _want_ to know, and I _want_ to be there. As long as you let me”, Chris voice was calm and smooth next to my ear, and _god_ , I had missed it, I had missed him.

“And I know that I can be the fucking worst, but for the first time in ages I want to be _better_. And as cheesy as it sounds, - and I should know, I’ve been forced to watch a hundred and one Disney movies- it’s because of _you_. I think you’re just afraid to be happy, but don’t be, please. This time, I won’t fuck up, I promise. Just choose _me_.” 

There were so many things to say, so many things to do, but I knew that Chris didn’t expect an answer, and I was glad that he didn’t. Even though my heart had already known for a long time that I had chosen him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drama, fluff, kickass Lily, emotional Lily, comforting Chris, what more is there to want? 
> 
> The next chapter is gonna be quite fluffy, so if you guys want to see a certain scenario in one of the next- already close to the end!- chapters, feel free to leave a request in the comments:)


	10. Ti, Or Where All Good Things Come to an End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to apologise for updating so horrendously late, I just had a lot of things going on. Secondly, this will be the last official chapter, so this story will end a tiny bit prematurely. There will be a short Epilogue that I will upload sometime this week, to have a proper goodbye. Thank you all who followed my story, who gave me kudos, and most importantly left me lovely reviews. Thank all of you guys so much, it's been a journey and I'm so glad you came with me and sent me your support.
> 
> xx Elle

# Ti  


**Wednesday, 16:28**

I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel like I was living in a bubble right now. I had been smiling like the biggest doofus all week, and every time I saw Chris in the hallways and he smiled at me my heart did this weird thing where it started to beat twice as hard than it was supposed to. In short, I was truly pathetic, but I also didn’t really give a fuck about it.

Concentrating was a feat when my thoughts were always wandering, but I really did my best, sitting in between Noora and Eva on the benches outside of school. 

I was so glad to have them both, it truly felt like I had been blessed on all accords. I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were, both wrapped into warm coats, Noora wearing her typical red lipstick, and Eva’s hair flying in the slight breeze. They were so soft and pretty, and I felt proud to be able to call them my sister and closest friend. Sitting squished in between them felt like home. 

They were talking about Vilde- as far as I gathered- and now I finally began to tune into their conversation. Noora sounded worried while she voiced her concern about Vilde’s Russefeiring obsession.

“She's floating on a pink cloud with all this Russ stuff”, Noora said while furrowing her brows, “Russ time is her life, and there are three more years. I just don't understand what the big deal is…” 

“It's kind of nice though”, Eva defended our friend, and now that my thoughts were back on topic I decided to discuss a couple things concerning Vilde now. I had been meaning to for ages. 

“Yeah, so”, I began, “I was thinking actually…”

But then Noora promptly interrupted me while jokingly pushing me into my side with her elbows.

“So Miss _All I can think about is my kind of kind of not boyfriend_ arrived back on earth?”, she teased, and of course Eva had to joined her in her laughter instead of defending me. Not that there was much to defend, admittedly…

“So first of all”, I said, sticking out my tongue at the blonde in question, “Chris is not my boyfriend”, I couldn’t help but add another word, this time quietly, even though my face was still beaming with a smile, “yet.” 

Eva just raised her brows teasingly while Noora very unsuccessfully disguised her laugh as a cough. I rolled my eyes. 

“No, but seriously guys”, I said, my voice becoming serious, “I think something’s wrong with Vilde.”

The two stopped laughing, and Eva questioningly raising her brow, “You think so?”, she asked.

Noora didn’t say anything, but looked like she was filled with  
thoughts.

“Yeah, so just as like a disclaimer, don’t tell anyone”, the girls nodded, “something happened yesterday after lunch when I went to the bathroom. Umm so I heard someone throwing up in one of the bathroom stalls. It was Vilde…”

Both Eva’s and Noora’s faces immediately got concerned, Eva taking my hand. Thankfully, she had never experienced an eating disorder- the cause which we were all suspecting-, but Eva probably knew about as much about the topic as I did. She did a lot of research when she successfully helped me recover from my own difficulties. It was however obvious that Eva had not seen a similar problem with Vilde coming. 

Noora furrowed her brows and looked deeply affected. 

“We’re all suspecting the same thing, aren’t we?”, the blonde asked into the round, “I’ve been thinking about that for a while now, actually. You did too, didn’t you?”, Noora asked in my direction. 

I nodded. And I understood that she knew. 

“And then that whole thing with William sure as hell didn’t make her situation any better”, I said, “I mean maybe Vilde really has the flu like she told me, but… So what I suggest is that we talk to her so she can open up about whatever’s going on? If she feels like she can and wants to?”

Both Eva and Noora nodded in agreement. 

“I think we should maybe talk to Chris first though”, Eva said, “she seems to know Vilde for quite some time, so maybe she knows something that could help?”

“Sounds great!”, Noora said with a smile, obviously happy that we had finally decided to do something about Vilde’s situation. I was just hoping we were able to do something for the girl. Yes, she was obnoxious, naïve, and her voice was way too high, but Vilde had a heart of gold, and she deserved the world.

Thankfully, the heavy cloud of that kind of subject didn’t float around for that long, and our conversation flew over to brighter topics. 

We were planning to go to town on the weekend to get some shopping done, and Sana had already agreed to come. Both Vilde and Chris hadn’t texted in the group chat yet, but we were optimistic that we would be able to get all of us together. 

Eva and I were just telling Noora about our favourite café that we were planning to visit on our girl’s day, when we suddenly noticed William strolling towards us. What the hell?

I still hadn’t talked to him since I punched him last week- not that I was planning to apologise- but interestingly enough he didn’t seem to plan vengeance so far.

Most the time I didn’t condone violence, but a smirk suddenly appeared on my face when I realised that Chris would probably hit the shit out of William if his best friend would do as much as try to take revenge against me. My stomach felt so fuzzy again, it was so annoying. 

The interesting thing was that William’s focus wasn’t on me- or Eva for that matter- but completely fixated on Noora. 

The blonde however only seemed to notice the 97er when he stood still in front of our little group and smiled at her. 

All William said was a simple “Hi” in Noora’s direction, to the extreme confusion of all of us. As much as we know he didn’t even know her name. And then he just sat down next to Noora in complete nonchalance. The world we were living in was weird. 

“Is there something?”, Noora asked, taken aback, “Something you want?” 

Her voice pretty much sounded like she was saying what the fuck are you doing here? I had to say, I was very much looking forward to William’s answer. 

“Will you come home with me to do homework?”, he just asked in total confidence, like it was a normal thing to ask a girl he didn’t know at all to do homework.

“Excuse me, Wilhelm?”, Noora just asked baffled, definitely not taking the guy’s proposition serious. 

“William”, he corrected her, completely unfazed. He actually seemed to find Noora calling him the wrong name endearing. What the hell was going on here??

“That pretty much answers the question, don't you think?”, Noora said snippily, trying to make a point. 

“What?”, William asked, still smiling like everything was going just fine. 

“I don't even know your name”, Noora made her point even clearer. 

I exchanged a both questioning and amused look with Eva. 

“Call me what you want”, William said, looking at Noora like she was the most interesting human he had ever seen. Uh oh, I was sensing something. 

“Yeah but then... I choose to call you asshole!”, Noora used the situation to her advantage, smiling winningly. That girl was just always so quick in clapping back, I had no idea how she did it. 

But William still didn’t seem to care, and just laughed like this was the funniest thing ever. 

I was in such a state of confusion that I didn’t even notice the familiar silhouette coming towards us. 

“Halla”, Chris announced himself, startling so much that I almost fell backward from the bench, prompting my kind of boyfriend to burst into laughter. It was the kind of laugh that could unfreeze ice, making him look like a little boy, reckless and carefree. It also reminded me to ask him about which toothpaste he was using, teeth this white were never a coincidence. 

Chris didn’t seem one bit surprised that William was sitting there with us, but just did this weird guy greeting which consisted of casually patting William on his back.

“Want a drive home?”, Chris asked now, still standing in front of our small group. He was wearing a dark green shirt that I really liked and his hair was undone. 

“Ummm, yeahh, I think so”, I answered while questioningly looking at Eva and Noora- who was still having banter with William? -, “Do you guys wanna come too?”

I just realised that it was kind of rude to invite other people into a car that wasn’t mine, but then again it felt impolite too to just leave? God, I was so new to this kind of stuff, it was all sorts of confusing. But having a boyfriend that owned a car definitely had its perks. 

“Nah, we’re good”, Eva swiftly answered for both of them, barely containing the smirk on her lips, “you kids go have fun.”

“And take that one with you!”, Noora pouted, pointing at William. 

I wasn’t taking my chances and quickly got up to kiss both Eva and Noora on their cheeks. 

“Nah, thanks, keep him!”, I yelled over my shoulder at Noora while taking up speed, Chris chuckling next to me. 

Thankfully William continued to be Noora’s problem, and so Chris and I kept strolling. I had no idea where his car was, so I just followed him.

“I should really lock you and William into a room until you both talk your differences out”, Chris sighed, “can’t have my girl and my best friend going at each other all the time.”

“Your girl huh?”, I teased him about my new title, but couldn’t help but let out a smile. 

“Yeah”, Chris said, casually draping his arm around my shoulder like he’d been doing that exact gesture every day for the last ten years, “like you didn’t know.”

He jokingly rolled his eyes, guiding me down to the street where a couple cars were parked. It didn’t take long until he unlocked a black Mercedes. 

“Nice car”, I commented with an appreciative brow raise. Not that I understood a lot about cars, but it was beautiful.

“Thanks”, Chris said, shrugging his shoulders, “my Dad bought it as a _sorry I fucked my secretary and now your Mum’s throwing clothes out of the window_ present… My sister got a pony. The horse’ name is Kit Kat- I shit you not- and I’m still forced to see him every Sunday.”

Chris voice was so nonchalant while he opened the door for me, from a distance he could have been talking about the weather. 

In my opinion that was one of the biggest differences between Chris and me, our way of handling though shit. He seemed to be the kind of person that trusted someone completely right after he deemed them worthy of knowing him. I admired how easy it seemed to be for Chris to open up. He started driving.

“You’re such a cliché”, I told him with a soft smile, squeezing Chris’ hand. He stopped at a traffic light, smirking slightly at my words. 

“But come on”, I continued, still smiling while the city flashed by, “don’t you lie to me and say you don’t like visiting Kit Kat.”

“Hmmm sure, that horse sure likes to shit into corners a lot … He’s such a joy to be around”, Chris complained, jokingly raising his brows.

“Yeah, yeah, I can totally see you making all these obsessive horse loving girls swoon in a heartbeat”, I laughed, “but the important bit here is definitely if you wanna be even more cliché? We could be that annoying couple that kisses at red-light, you know?”, I suggested teasingly.

“Well these are the kinda clichés I like, Red”, Chris smirked, not letting me ask twice before he already reached out to pull me closer. 

It was weird what Chris’ lips on mine could do to my body, my brain simply seemed to pause, every single time. We moved in perfect sync, and it felt so natural to me. 

I didn’t know how Chris stayed this warm at the beginning of an Oslo winter, but he just seemed to manage. He laughed into the kiss when we heard a car honking behind us and he let go of me, still laughing. He restarted the car, but instead of looking at the road, Chris’ attention was still on me. 

“Would you look at the road while driving, you madman”, I urged him, half worried, but also still half laughing, “do you want to get us killed?”

“Oh don’t worry”, Chris just said casually, and full of confidence, “I got this.”

“Yeahh, sure…”, I sighed, rolling my eyes. Boys. 

Oslo flashed by the windows, already mostly dark around us due to the season. The closeness to the North Pole was fascinating me, as it was so different from how I grew up. I remembered the summers of my childhood, secretly trying to stay awake to see the sun set with Eva, Bergen’s vast and beautiful landscape surrounding us. That’s how it was; long days in the summer and long nights in the winter.

“You know”, I said thoughtfully, “I’ve never been in Norway this late in the year… Or how you people like to say, Christmas time”, I chuckled, “It’s fascinating to see how fast the sun rises and then sets.”

“Let’s call it Hanukkah time from now on then?”, Chris suggested humorously, “I actually never thought about that kind of thing before, but isn’t it sort of shitty to live in a place where no one celebrates your holidays? Isn’t it lonely?”, Chris furrowed his brows, but at least he was looking on the road now, “I mean we’ve already established that my parents are pretty shitty- especially around the holidays- but at least I have people surrounding me that celebrate the same things I do.”

I couldn’t help but smile at this unexpected thoughtfulness. 

“Not gonna lie, it’s a little lonely. Especially now that I’m far away from… home. I mean I’m not extraordinarily religious, but I still enjoyed being part of a community in a way. God, I really, really have to go the Synagogue here at some point… My grandma is low-key pestering me with it actually”, I smiled in reflection, “But yeah, you know it’s complicated. My Dad is actually a Christian born Atheist, and only my Mum’s Jewish. It was kind of the only thing that truly connected us. But after… well, she fucked someone in her office and my Dad finally left her, I’ve been feeling a little lonely in my Jewishness if you get what I’m saying?”

“hmm-mm”, Chris nodded, and then sighed, “god, we really have shit parents…”

I nodded, but was determined to not let our stupid circumstances ruin the mood, especially as I noticed how we were already about to arrive in my neighbourhood. 

“Did you know that Hanukkah isn’t even such a big thing, according to the Torah?”, I smiled, “I suspect us Jews just hyped it up so we have something to celebrate too, when everyone rejoices around Christmas.”

Chris chuckled. 

“But anyway, did I tell you that my Dad literally bailed on me again and left for a last minute business trip? Even though he has been promising to finally go and buy a kitchen table with me?”, I ranted randomly, “We literally had to eat on the couch when I invited Eva and her mum over for dinner. I literally had to turn one of the couch covers around afterwards because Auntie Anne-Marit spilled some of her wine…”

“Did I just hear that you’re home alone?”, Chris inquired brightly while parking only a couple meters in in front of my building. He was smiling sheepishly. 

“That’s all you got from this?”, I laughed. Typical. 

“Umm that and the table thing!”, Chris proved me wrong, while disconnecting his seatbelt, “about that, my offer of driving you to Ikea still stands?”

“Really?”, I asked excitedly -I loved all things decorating, sue me- while getting out of the car, “could you maybe do Friday after school? It would be perfect because I’m having a girl’s day on Saturday?”  
“Yeah, I think that would work”, he said while running his fingers through his hair, “I do have to babysit Arabella after seven though, so… If you wouldn’t mind taking her with us?”

“Of course not!”, I said, beaming of joy. I had wanted to meet  
meet the little girl for quite a while now as I needed to see if Chris was the only one with this adorable nose (for science) “I can’t wait to meet her.”

On our way to the door Chris wrapped his arm around me again, attempting to keep me warm. 

“She can’t wait either actually…”, He said, “I might have told Ari a little about you, and according to her she needs to see your hair to prove that you’re a long lost Russian Princess or something… God, I don’t know, she’s really into that movie Anastasia lately, have you heard of it?” 

I loved the way he talked right now, right in this moment. He looked to strangely real, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much he must love Arabella. I never had a sister- even though Eva felt like one to me- but it wasn’t hard to imagine how life must have changed for Chris since the little girl had come into his life. 

He didn’t have to say more, but I could clearly picture his parents at his home- I imagined both of them with high cheekbones and absent faces- feeling so alone in that big house of his that I had never seen, suddenly a tiny baby joining him in his loneliness. 

At that time Chris must have been around ten himself, but for some reason I was sure of the fact that Chris was way more than just a brother to Ari, his absent parents making him a father figure to her as well. I could see him in Chris’ eyes, that poor little boy with so much responsibility on his shoulders that he shared with nobody. I was glad that he at least seemed to have William- as weird as their friendship seemed to me- and I promised myself to at least try to be nicer to him. But in the end I was just glad that now I was here as well, and I really hoped that we would be able to help each other. 

We stopped at the entrance of the building when Chris suddenly looked down at me, grinning sheepishly. A picture I could see myself getting used to. 

“So as your personal driver, boyfriend, and due to your Dad’s absence I should be allowed to come upstairs right?”

Chris looked so adorable, his cheeks lightly flushed by the cold that he didn’t seem to feel. He was doing his best puppy dog eyes, even though I had never had the slightest intention of denying his request.  
I had decided that I wanted him to stay a long time ago, and so I just took his hand and dragged him through the door with me.


	11. Elleve, or Epilogue

# Elleve

When Lily was seventeen, Chris graduated in May and joined the military in August, promising her to send a letter every week. He did, and it was the first time in her life Lily hoped for a forever. And she hoped it was with him. 

When Lily was nineteen, she graduated in May and Chris came back to her in June, promising he would never leave again. He didn’t, and it was the first time in her life Lily planned a forever. And she thought it was with him. 

When Lily was twenty-one, Chris woke up next to her every day, always making sure she would be late to classes at University. After a while Lily didn’t mind anymore, and just thought back to a time when she was scared to wake up next to no one, and was grateful that those times where over. 

When Lily was twenty-five, Noora and William got married, both asking their best friends to be maid of honour and best man, with Eva, Sana, Vilde and Chris being bridesmaids. Chris made her laugh in his speech, quoting Romeo and Juliet, reminding her how this thing started and reminding her that it wasn’t weak to aspire for a forever. 

When Lily was twenty-seven, she became Mrs Christoffer Schistad, and Chris was twenty-nine when he became Mr Lily Larsen. They married under a Chuppah in a garden, a priest and all of their friends present. Eva had returned from South America where she helped underprivileged children, Noora with a rounded belly and just as much sass on her tongue as ever, William had his arms around her. And then there was Sana, her smile wide, and her eyes knowing. Chris greeted her with the smile she had come to love so much when Lily came down the aisle, insisting that it wasn’t a tear that wet his cheek, and for the first time in her life Lily truly realised that she lived in her forever already. And she knew it was with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it with Chasing Juliet, and I really hope that you all enjoyed Lily and Chris' journey. Thank you all so much for your kind words. xx Elle


End file.
